North Korea expanding uranium enrichment plant, report claims

VIENNA, Austria — A U.S. institute tracking North Korea’s nuclear weapons program says recent satellite photos show Pyongyang is doubling the size of its uranium enrichment plant, jibing with the country’s announced plans to expand technology that can be used both to create energy and the core of nuclear weapons.

The imagery comes from two sources, satellite companies Digital Globe and Astrium Geoinformation Services, and was seen by The Associated Press ahead of publication by the Institute for Science and International Security on Wednesday.

In an accompanying note, ISIS said the photos of the Nyongbyon nuclear complex show construction under way to “effectively double” the size of the enrichment hall.

That, said ISIS, would allow North Korea to also double the number of centrifuges now enriching uranium.

Revealing the existence of a uranium enrichment program three years ago, Pyongyang said the plant contained 2,000 centrifuges — machines that are linked up in series and spin uranium gas into material that can be used either to power reactors or arm nuclear weapons, depending on the degree of enrichment.

That means the 4,000 centrifuges that the space is apparently being expanded for could potentially make twice that amount, giving them the capacity to build up to four bombs a year — should the country decide to use them for that purpose.