Early developments (1950s–1960s) Since the 1950s, North Korea has been interested in
nuclear technology and has pursued the use of nuclear technology by transferring knowledge and technology related to nuclear energy from the
Soviet Union. In April 1955, it decided to establish the
Atomic and
Nuclear Physics Research Institute at the 2nd General Meeting of the North Korean Academy of Sciences and dispatched six scientists from the Soviet Union Academy to the conference held in the Soviet Union in June 1955. In September 1959, an agreement on the use of nuclear power was signed with the Soviet Union in Moscow, and the dispatch of a scientist from North Korea to the Soviet Union became a systematic step forward. An IRT-2000 pool-type
research reactor was supplied by the Soviet Union for the
Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center in 1963, and began operation in 1965. After upgrades to the research reactor, the fuels now used are IRT-2M-type assemblies of 36% and 80%
highly enriched uranium. As the center has not received fresh fuel since Soviet times, this reactor is now only run occasionally to produce
iodine-131 for
thyroid cancer radiation therapy. According to a 2022 study of Donghyun Woo, who relied on previously unexamined North Korean publications and Soviet archival materials, North Korea's early nuclear developments were motivated out of a desire to harness nuclear power for economic reasons rather than develop nuclear weapons for security reasons.
Expansion of the program (1970s–1990s) During the 1970s the North Korean research became more independent. In 1974 North Korea upgraded its Soviet-supplied reactor to 8 MW, and in 1979 it began to build a second, indigenous research reactor in
Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center. Parallel to the construction of this reactor an ore processing plant and a fuel rod fabrication plant were built. During the 1980s, the North Korean government realized that
light-water reactors (LWRs) were better suited to producing large amounts of electricity, for which there was a growing requirement. After the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia continued
site selection fieldwork for the Sinpo LWR project. However, the North Koreans refused to pay for the work, and the project was effectively discontinued.
Institute of Atomic Energy The
Institute of Atomic Energy (IAE) in Pyongyang was founded in 1985, initially to house a 20
MeV cyclotron and laboratories imported under an
IAEA technical cooperation program from the Soviet Union. The vast majority of cyclotron usage is to produce
gallium-66 for
liver and
breast cancer treatment. The IAE has grown and now has three purposes: research, applying atomic energy to medicine and industry, and providing experimental facilities for nuclear studies students, particularly from
Kim Il Sung University and
Kim Chaek University of Technology. In 2009,
Siegfried Hecker, the co-director of the
Stanford University Center for International Security and Cooperation, said that "prior to its
April rocket launch, North Korea had discharged approximately 6,100 of the 8,000 fuel rods from its 5-megawatt reactor to the cooling pool, but disablement slowed to a crawl of 15 fuel rods per week, dragging out the projected completion of fuel unloading well into 2011. " Despite these apparent shutdown efforts, North Korea's nuclear tests in
2006,
2009 and
2013 have called into question its denuclearization commitment. On 7 July 2018, U.S. Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo, Japanese Foreign Minister
Taro Kono and South Korean Foreign Minister
Kang Kyung-wha met in Tokyo where they reaffirmed their unity in urging North Korea to denuclearize as promised. The ministers stressed the need to call on North Korea to take concrete steps toward denuclearization and to keep existing U.N. economic sanctions in place.
Nuclear fusion claims In May 2010, North Korea's state newspaper,
Rodong Sinmun, announced in an article that North Korea had successfully carried out a
nuclear fusion reaction. The aforementioned article, referring to the alleged test as "a great event that demonstrated the rapidly developing cutting-edge science and technology of the DPRK", also made mention of efforts by North Korean scientists to develop "safe and environment-friendly new energy", and made no mention of plans to use fusion technology in its
nuclear weapons program.
Indigenous light water reactor development In 2009 North Korea announced its intention to build an indigenous experimental
light water reactor (LWR) and the uranium enrichment technology to provide its nuclear fuel. In November 2010, a group of non-governmental U.S. experts reported that they had visited North Korea's
Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center, where they were shown an experimental 25–30 MWe
light water reactor in the early stages of construction, and a 2,000-
gas centrifuge uranium enrichment plant, which was said to be producing
low enriched uranium (LEU) fuel for the reactor. Construction of the uranium enrichment plant reportedly began in April 2009, and the initial target date for operational commencement for the reactor was 2012. In November 2011, satellite imagery indicated that the LWR construction was progressing rapidly, with the concrete structures largely completed. The LWR is being built on the site of the demolished cooling tower of the experimental Magnox reactor. Following the building of this experimental LWR, North Korea intends to build larger LWRs for electricity generation. but the reactor was not externally complete until 2016. In 2017, several activities were noted involving construction, a dam was built to provide sufficient amount of water for the cooling system, switchyard and connections to transmission line were made along with facilities presumably used for maintenance and repair. In 2018 the preliminary testing of the reactor started. As of May 2024, intermittent cooling water flows indicate pre-operational tests are probably being conducted. == Nuclear weapons program ==