THE HAGUE, Netherlands — North Korea appears to be expanding its nuclear program through the addition of a purpose-built enrichment facility, satellite images show.
The blue-roofed building, 93 meters long and 28 meters wide, may house several thousand centrifuges used to enrich uranium isotopes to weapons-grade material once completed. It is visually almost identical to similar facilities that North Korea already operates and that have provided the uranium for the country’s six nuclear tests and growing arsenal of atomic bombs.
The facility has been referenced by the UN system’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, although it has not yet released any images or extensive public information.
“The Agency is monitoring the construction of a new building at Yongbyon, which has dimensions and features similar to the Kangson enrichment plant,” the IAEA’s director general, Rafael Mariano Grossi, told the organization’s Board of Governors on June 9.
Researchers from the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation, based in Monterey, California, have been the first to publicly identify the site and released annotated satellite images of the location. Using commercial satellite imagery, Defense News has been able to determine that construction on the new building started in mid-February of this year.
According to the California-based experts’ accompanying estimates, the facility, located close to North Korea’s premier nuclear research complex, would be able to add anywhere from 70 to nearly 100 kilograms of highly enriched uranium to Pyongyang’s stockpile annually.
This would likely suffice for five to ten new warheads a year, based on commonly cited estimates of ten to 20 kilograms of HEU needed for an implosion-type nuclear weapon. More advanced weapons might need less.
“We are starting to see a scaling up of the North Korean nuclear program, probably to achieve some sort of desired arsenal size,” said Sam Lair, one of the researchers at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies involved in revealing the facility.
North Korea is estimated by researchers to already operate three enrichment facilities, two of which have been additionally expanded with annexes housing yet more centrifuges. Collectively, the existing sites are estimated to house over 10,000 centrifuges that produce more than 200 kilograms of weapons-grade uranium-235 every year.
“The message is clear: The North Korean nuclear program is here to stay,” said Lair, who also pointed out that Pyongyang’s state media had released unprecedented footage from Kim Jong-Un, North Korea’s leader, visiting the inside of two other enrichment plants in recent months. It was the first time North Korea published any imagery of these facilities.
“They want to show that these are large, real facilities and they won’t be bargained away in some sort of an agreement, like what the first Trump administration pursued,” Lair said. It may also send important messages to domestic audiences about Kim Jong-Un’s contribution to keeping his country – and its elite – safe from any foreign military intervention by developing its nuclear program.
North Korea has emerged as an aggressive nuclear player. The country conducted its first test in late 2006, after years of an international standoff surrounding its nuclear program. The country left the global Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons in 2003, which still counts 191 members, including all permanent members of the Security Council.
Linus Höller is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. He covers international security and military developments across the continent. Linus holds a degree in journalism, political science and international studies, and is currently pursuing a master’s in nonproliferation and terrorism studies.
