Fears grow of radiation leak from NK’s nuke site
Concerns are growing of a possible leak of radioactive materials on North Korea’s nuclear test site in Punggye-ri after its sixth nuclear test there on Sept. 3.
Four of the six tests have taken place since Kim Jong-un came to power in December 2011.
Moreover, the last three tests took place between January 2016 and Sept. 3, which was unusual considering that before then Pyongyang carried out the tests only once in three or four years.
All tests under Kim’s leadership took place in Punggye-ri, with the explosions growing to up to six times more powerful from January 2016 to Sept. 3, according to analysts.
“And this means the risk of collapse within the Punggye-ri nuclear test site is growing,” said Paik Hak-soon, a senior researcher at the Sejong Institute. “In other words, the possibility of a radiation leak there is growing.”
Against this backdrop, China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection conducted emergency monitoring and analysis of artificial radioactive nuclide samples collected in all four provinces bordering North Korea — Jilin, Heilongjiang, Liaoning, and Shandong — on Sept. 3, according to the online version of Diplomat magazine.
It also said the ministry, based on its findings, released statements claiming that the North Korean nuclear test “hasn’t affected our environment and public yet.”
But it added that the Chinese were still concerned about possible hazards caused by the test.
The University of Science and Technology of China claimed on Sept. 4, “The power of the latest North Korea’s nuclear test is three to 7.8 times stronger than that of the Nagasaki atomic bomb — Fat Man — dropped by the United States in 1945.”
The argument fits with the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA)’s finding.
It said the artificial seismic event at the Punggye-ri test site on Sept. 3 was 11 times more powerful than that caused by the fourth nuclear test in January 2016, and five to six times that of the fifth test in September 2016.
In an interview with The Telegraph, retired Chinese scientist Wei Shijie said, “The problem is quite serious and a nuclear leak is inevitable.”
“It is just a matter of time to detect it, because there are cracks on mountains where radioactive substances will leak.
“The big concern is the underground water will be contaminated, polluting the plants and animals, and finally the people who consume animal meat will be seriously affected.”
Seoul’s Nuclear Safety and Security Commission said Friday that traces of xenon gas, a radionuclide, were detected here in ground, air and maritime samples collected in response to the sixth test.
The collected amount was 0.43 milibecquerel per cubic meter, and the commission is studying whether it was found as a result of the nuclear test.
“We’re trying to figure out how the xenon entered our soil,” it said. “We will conclude later whether the material is linked to Pyongyang’s nuclear test.”
The commission argued that xenon did not appear to “have an impact on South Korean territory or its population.”
Meanwhile, the North Korean nuclear tests are also raising concerns of a volcanic eruption from nearby Mount. Baekdu on the North Korea-China border, 114 kilometers northwest of the Punggyeri test site.
In a CNN interview in May, Bruce Bennett, a senior defense analyst at the Rand Corporation, said the explosion from a nuclear test could set off an eruption at the mountain.
‘That could be an absolutely huge eruption, kill thousands — if not tens of thousands — of Chinese and North Koreans,” he said.
“We don’t know if a bigger nuclear explosion will set it off, but it is certainly possible. The Chinese for years have been worried that he (Kim Jong-un) is going to cause a volcano to erupt.”
38 North, a U.S. website specializing in North Korea-related issues, remains cautious.
“There is simply no valid basis to expect that any underground nuclear test that could be conducted by North Korea and contained within the geologic setting of the Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site could trigger a subsequent eruption of the Mount Baekdu volcano,” it said.
Analysts speculated that fears of a possible radiation leak as well a volcanic eruption would continue as Pyongyang steps up efforts to complete its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
Korea Defense Network President Shin In-kyun said, “It is like an equation for the repressive state to launch a ballistic missile followed by a nuclear test or vice versa.”
“I think such an equation will remain valid until the Kim regime successfully mounts a hydrogen bomb on an intercontinental ballistic missile.”
It is just a matter of time to detect it, because there are cracks on mountains where radioactive substances will leak.