Word: plutonium
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Behind a smoke screen of diplomacy and bluster, Kim Il Sung may have produced at least one atom bomb; the CIA says the odds are "better than even" that he has. Last week he gave signs that he might be gathering plutonium to produce five others, and even more when a new and larger reactor begins operating next year. In that case, would Clinton use force to uphold the policy of nuclear nonproliferation, or would North Korea resort to war to preserve its right to have the Bomb...
...first act of the drama is now over. Since the IAEA began poking into North Korea's nuclear facilities in May 1992, its primary goal has been to find out how much plutonium, an essential material required for weapons, has come out of the 5-megawatt research reactor in Yongbyon. Specifically, inspectors want to know how much plutonium the Koreans may have spirited away when the reactor was shut down for 100 days in 1989, before the inspections began, to discover whether Kim has the Bomb...
...Koreans have insisted all along that their nuclear program is peaceful and that no plutonium has been diverted. Last week they made it almost, though not quite, impossible for the inspectors to prove otherwise. They extracted most of the 8,000 fuel rods, and U.S. officials fear that in some cases, rods from different parts of the reactor were shuffled together before being cooled in water-filled ponds. If, in the future, inspectors could analyze a large sample of them, they might come up with approximate readings of plutonium output, but they could not know the reactor's production history...
...next act begins. Even if some plutonium was diverted in 1989, it was enough for no more than one or two bombs. The fuel rods Pyongyang has just removed from the reactor will have to cool for about a month. After that, if the North Koreans reprocess them, they will remove all evidence of past extractions and, more important, acquire enough plutonium for five additional bombs...
...North Korea has threatened to withdraw entirely from the nonproliferation treaty if the U.N., or the U.S. unilaterally, imposes sanctions. That would defeat Clinton's purpose, since it would mean the end of all inspections, no matter how imperfect. Washington would have to assume that Pyongyang was reprocessing the plutonium to build bombs. Pressure would increase to pile on the sanctions and begin reinforcing South Korea to defend against a possible retaliatory onslaught from the North. A cycle of response and reprisal could spiral out of control...