North Korea’s Yongbyon Nuclear Research Center: Major Activity at the Five Megawatt Reactor

Commercial satellite imagery from March 30 indicates that North Korea may have shut down the 5 MWe (plutonium production) reactor for the time being. A major excavation project has also begun near the cooling water outfall, which, when coupled with recent efforts to dam the river below this point to create a reservoir, could indicate an attempt to provide a more steady flow of water into the facility. This would allow for the reactor to run more continuously and safely in the future.

There has been a lot of talk lately about Kim Jong-un’s willingness to discuss the “denuclearization” of the Korean Peninsula. It’s a cumbersome word and one that has given rise to more than a few misunderstandings. Many people, including President Trump, seem to hear “denuclearization” and imagine a promise by Mr. Kim to eliminate North Korea’s nuclear arsenal, recently acquired at great cost. But the term means more than the North’s disarmament. It imposes obligations on the United States, too—even if Americans don’t want to hear that part.

Turkey and Russia launched construction of Turkey’s first nuclear power plant in the southern province of Mersin with a ceremony in the capital Ankara on April 3. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin jointly lay the ground for the plant on the Mediterranean coast via a video teleconference held at the presidential complex.

The Blue House on Tuesday gave more specifics on how it would try to negotiate denuclearization with North Korea, calling for a comprehensive package that is implemented in a series of steps.  “The package deal and phased-in settlement are two sides of the same coin,” said a senior Blue House official speaking on condition of anonymity during a meeting with reporters. “We have no choice but to declare a package deal and take gradual procedures to implement it.”

U.S. intelligence agencies monitored two Russian tests of an experimental nuclear-powered cruise missile in recent months and found both tests failed to demonstrate the novel use of a reactor to fuel long-range flight, according to Pentagon officials. The two flight tests were conducted in the Russian arctic, including one in November on the island of Novaya Zemlya, the location of a Russian air base and nuclear testing site.

"The risk of escalation sparking a wider conflict—deliberately, inadvertently, or accidentally—between Russia and NATO is dangerously high," wrote Ulrich Kühn, a nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "This is particularly the case in the Baltics, a region that would be difficult for NATO to defend because the military balance there very much favors Russia." On Tuesday, Trump told Baltic leaders he has "great respect" for them.