North Korea Has Restarted Its Plutonium Reactor

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North Korea has restarted a plutonium reactor that could provide a stockpile for nuclear weapons.

Pyongyang announced in 2013 that they had intentions to refurbish and restart its nuclear facilities which they closed in 2007.

This comes days after North Korea launched a long-range rocket, which experts have said is a test of missile technology.

US Intelligence Chief James Clapper said: “We assess that North Korea has followed through on its announcement by expanding its Yongbyon enrichment facility and restarting the plutonium production reactor,”

“We further assess that North Korea has been operating the reactor long enough so that it could begin to recover plutonium from the reactor’s spent fuel within a matter of weeks to months.”

Weapons-grade plutonium and uranium are highly sensitive chemicals that form key ingredients in the making of nuclear bombs.

The Pentagon has said it wants to send a sophisticated missile defence system to the South Korean border immediately.

North Korea is currently under UN sanctions for carrying out several nuclear tests in the past.

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