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1 (April 23, 2003)

handle is hein.crs/crsmthabbmh0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Order Code RS21391 Updated April 23, 2003 CRS Report for Congress Received through the CRS Web North Korea's Nuclear Weapons: How Soon an Arsenal? Sharon A. Squassoni Specialist in National Defense Foreign Affairs, Defense and Trade Division Summary In December 2002, North Korea ended the 8-year-old freeze on its nuclear program by dismantling monitoring equipment, expelling inspectors and restarting operations at its plutonium production facilities. The CIA has assessed that North Korea could produce 5-6 weapons by mid-2003, in addition to 1 or possibly 2 weapons it might already have. North Korea restarted two key facilities in March 2003. This report describes steps in producing plutonium-based nuclear weapons and potential signs of North Korean activities. It will be updated as events warrant. Background In the early1980s, U.S. satellites tracked a growing indigenous nuclear program in North Korea. North Korea's small reactor at Yongbyon (5MWe), capable of producing about 6kg of plutonium per year, began operating in 1986.1 Later that year, U.S. satellites detected high explosives testing and a new plant to separate plutonium (a necessary step before turning the plutonium into metal for a warhead). In addition, the construction of two larger reactors (50MWe at Yongbyon and 200MWe at Taechon) added to the mounting evidence of a serious, clandestine effort. Although North Korea had joined the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in 1985, nuclear safeguards inspections began first in 1992. Those inspections raised questions about how much plutonium North Korea had produced covertly that still have not been resolved. In 1994, North Korea signed the Agreed Framework with the United States, agreeing to freeze its plutonium programs and eventually dismantle them in exchange for several kinds of assistance.2 Western intelligence agencies at that time estimated that North Korea had produced an amount of 1 5MWe is a power rating for the reactor, indicating that it produces 5 million watts of electricity per day (very small). Reactors are also described in terms of million watts of heat (MW thermal). Although the reactor was optimized to produce plutonium, and is not connected to any electricity grid, North Korea has always referred to it by the 5MWe rating. 2 See CRS Issue Brief 1B91141, North Korea's Nuclear Weapons Program. Congressional Research Service + The Library of Congress

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