A U.S. think tank on Sunday released satellite imagery of a building believed to be a uranium enrichment facility in North Korea’s Yongbyon nuclear complex.
Nov. 22, 2010
Satellite image shows suspected N. Korean uranium enrichment facility
WASHINGTON, Nov. 21, Kyodo
Disclosing a photograph taken Nov. 4 by U.S. satellite imagery firm DigitalGlobe, the Institute for Science and International Security said the suspected uranium enrichment facility can be seen in the photo.
The Washington-based nuclear research institute released the image a day after Siegfried Hecker, former chief of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, said he was taken during a recent trip to North Korea to a uranium enrichment facility in Yongbyon, about 90 kilometers north of Pyongyang.
Hecker said the building is about 120 meters long and has a blue roof.
He also said he and two colleagues from Stanford University were told by a North Korean official that the facility contains 2,000 centrifuges, key equipment to enrich uranium.
The ISIS said the number is ''greater but consistent'' with its earlier estimates.
The ISIS said in a report released in early October that North Korea has the capability of building a pilot facility with between 500 and 1,000 centrifuges.
(Distributed by Kyodo News on Nov. 21, 2010)
The Washington-based nuclear research institute released the image a day after Siegfried Hecker, former chief of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, said he was taken during a recent trip to North Korea to a uranium enrichment facility in Yongbyon, about 90 kilometers north of Pyongyang.
Hecker said the building is about 120 meters long and has a blue roof.
He also said he and two colleagues from Stanford University were told by a North Korean official that the facility contains 2,000 centrifuges, key equipment to enrich uranium.
The ISIS said the number is ''greater but consistent'' with its earlier estimates.
The ISIS said in a report released in early October that North Korea has the capability of building a pilot facility with between 500 and 1,000 centrifuges.
(Distributed by Kyodo News on Nov. 21, 2010)
