Terri
01-31-2003, 11:33 PM
[B]Spy Satellites See Heightened Activity at N. Korea Nuke Plant
WASHINGTON — Throughout January, U.S. intelligence has detected substantial activity at North Korea's once shuttered nuclear facility, a possible sign it is getting ready to produce nuclear weapons, officials said Friday.
American spy satellites have detected covered trucks apparently taking on cargo at the nuclear storage facility at Yongbyon, where spent nuclear fuel rods are stored, said U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity. When processed, enough plutonium can be extracted from the 8,000 rods to make four or five nuclear weapons, U.S. officials have said.
It is possible -- but not certain -- that the trucks seen at the plant are loading those rods, either to be stored elsewhere or in preparation for processing, one official said. Another said more people have been working at the complex, North Koreans also have been grading roads and plowing snow from roads and that smoke has been coming out of smokestacks at the complex -- signs the regime in Pyongyang is resuming operations at the facility.
Full Story (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,77169,00.html )
WASHINGTON — Throughout January, U.S. intelligence has detected substantial activity at North Korea's once shuttered nuclear facility, a possible sign it is getting ready to produce nuclear weapons, officials said Friday.
American spy satellites have detected covered trucks apparently taking on cargo at the nuclear storage facility at Yongbyon, where spent nuclear fuel rods are stored, said U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity. When processed, enough plutonium can be extracted from the 8,000 rods to make four or five nuclear weapons, U.S. officials have said.
It is possible -- but not certain -- that the trucks seen at the plant are loading those rods, either to be stored elsewhere or in preparation for processing, one official said. Another said more people have been working at the complex, North Koreans also have been grading roads and plowing snow from roads and that smoke has been coming out of smokestacks at the complex -- signs the regime in Pyongyang is resuming operations at the facility.
Full Story (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,77169,00.html )