South Korea Produced Near Weapon-Grade Uranium, IAEA Says

By Greg Webb
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — Calling it “a matter of serious concern,” the International Atomic Energy Agency yesterday reported that South Korea produced small amounts of nearly weapon-grade uranium in experiments less than five years ago that were not reported to the agency at the time (see GSN, Nov. 5).

South Korean scientists also conducted unreported plutonium separation experiments in 1982, the agency said in an eight-page report to its Board of Governors. Agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei is scheduled to present the report at the board’s quarterly meeting beginning Nov. 25 in Vienna.

“On a number of occasions, starting in 1982 and continuing until 2000, [South Korea] conducted experiments and activities involving uranium conversion, uranium enrichment and plutonium separation, which it failed to report to the agency,” the report says.

The findings provided more details about South Korean declarations made earlier this year as part of Seoul’s cooperation with the Additional Protocol to its IAEA nuclear safeguards agreement. The protocol, which entered into force in February, allows the agency to conduct more intrusive monitoring of South Korean nuclear activities.

The report outlines a history of South Korean nuclear activities starting with the 1980s conversion of uranium ore into 154 kilograms of natural uranium metal. Some of the uranium ore was acquired domestically from a former coal mine, but the bulk was “imported from abroad,” the agency report says without naming possible sources.

In early 2000, scientists at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute then used some of the uranium metal to conduct tests of laser isotope separation technology — also developed with unidentified “foreign assistance,” according to the report. 

The experiments resulted in the production of 200 milligrams of uranium enriched to contain an average of 10.2 percent of the uranium 235 isotope, the report says. 

Some of the uranium, however, was enriched to 77 percent, according to the report. Weapon-grade uranium is generally considered to contain 80 percent or more of uranium 235.

In addition, the report details South Korean efforts to produce a small amount of plutonium in a U.S.-supplied research reactor in 1982. South Korean officials told agency inspectors that 0.7 grams of plutonium 239 were produced in the reactor and agency estimates roughly confirmed that amount.

The plutonium was then separated from the reactor fuel, yielding less than 40 milligrams, according to South Korean estimates.

Although South Korea’s nuclear safeguards agreement requires it to report all these activities to the U.N. nuclear watchdog, none were reported at the times they were conducted, the report says. However, since the activities were disclosed this year, South Korean has cooperated well with the agency, the report says, although inspectors will continue to seek additional details.

South Korean leaders have said they never intended to deceive the agency, and that scientists conducted the uranium and plutonium experiments without official approval or knowledge.

Some experts, however, suggested that the scientists should have known better.

“They must have known their work was relevant to a nuclear weapons program,” said Gerald Epstein, a WMD nonproliferation specialist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Nevertheless, Epstein said it was possible they did not know they were required to report activities involving such small amounts of material.

“It’s not clear that they knew they were breaking international law,” he said.

A Western diplomat in Vienna told the Los Angeles Times that the IAEA Board of Governors might refer the South Korean issue to the U.N. Security Council, identifying the matter as a violation of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Such a move could set a precedent for similar action regarding Iran’s nuclear program, which is also under debate by the board (see related GSN story, today).

South Korean officials said the agency report demonstrates that they had honestly reported the activity once they learned of it.

“The report does not talk about violations, it talks about reporting failures,” said Song Young-wan, a senior Foreign Ministry official quoted by Agence France-Presse. “Our initial response is that all-in-all we are satisfied with an impartial and objective report.”

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