Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

Taechon, North Korea

200 MW(e) Reactor

On 30 June 2005 Japan's Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported an American source claimed that North Korea had resumed construction work on the 50MWe reactor at Yongbyon and the 200 MWe reactor at Taechon. Work on these facilities had been halted under the 1994 Agreed Framework with the US. The report claimed that North Korea had recently informed the US government that it had resumed construction of the reactors. The activities were said to be on a scale easily detected by satellite.

Because of the time frame of these satellite images, it is neither possible to confirm or deny those reports. Since the most recent image is from April of 2005, the North Koreans could have begun construciton in the time between the acquisition of the image and the June 30 reports.

Comparison of March 2005 Digital Globe and April 2005 Space Imaging imagery of the partially completed 200 MW (Megawatt) reactor at Taechon. (Original image credit: Space Imaging and Digital Globe)

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