IAEA Concerned Over North Korea’s Apparent Reopening of Plutonium-Producing Reactor

Satellite image of North Korea’s Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center captured on June 21, showing a new cooling water pump house built for its nuclear reactor. Airbus Defense and Space/38 North

North Korea appears to have resumed operation of its five-megawatt electric reactor that was used to produce plutonium for nuclear weapons, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Monday.

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, said there are indications of the reactor operating at the Yongbyon site and “intermittent activity” at the radiochemical laboratory.