Location: Pun’gang-chigu (分江地區), Yŏngbyŏn-kun (寧邊郡), North P’yŏng’an Province (平安北道), North Korea

Subordinate to: Radiochemistry Research Institute (放射化學硏究所), Yŏngbyŏn Nuclear Research Center (寧邊原子力硏究센터), General Department of Atomic Energy (原子力總局), Cabinet (內閣); and/or the 5th Machine Industry Bureau (5機械工業總局), Korean Workers Party (朝鮮勞動黨) [Note: The 5th Machine Industry Bureau was originally under the Atomic Energy Committee (原子力委員會), which is currently called the General Department of Atomic Energy Industry. However, in 1987, when the Atomic Energy Committee was renamed the Ministry of Atomic Energy Industry (原子力工業部), the 5th Machine Industry Bureau was directly placed under the Korean Workers Party.]

Size: A six-story building, approximately 180m in length, 20m in width, and about the size of two football fields

Primary Function: Reprocessing spent nuclear fuel

Description: In North Korea, the Radiochemistry Laboratory is also known as the “December Enterprise.” Construction of the Radiochemistry Laboratory probably began in 1985, and by 1992 most of the construction for the building and support structures in the surrounding area had been completed. The facility was originally scheduled to be completed by 1995, and it was to become operational in 1996. When North Korea submitted its initial declaration to the IAEA May 1992, North Korea said this facility was for training nuclear specialists in separating plutonium, and for handling nuclear waste. However, during IAEA inspections in 1992, the IAEA concluded that it was a reprocessing facility. In 1993, IAEA inspectors discovered that North Korea was preparing to install a second reprocessing line in the building. At that time, inspectors estimated that about 70 percent of the facility’s internal equipment had been installed. The building had six reprocessing cells on the ground level and three sampling cells on an upper level. The facility is estimated to be capable of reprocessing 200-250 tons of Magnox spent fuel and extracting 100kg of plutonium annually, making its capacity second only to that of the Hanford PUREX plant in the United States. The Radiochemistry Laboratory was designed to use the “chop-leach” PUREX process that is used in many commercial and military reprocessing facilities around the world. The end of the building has provisions for receiving spent fuel. The laboratory has two underground pipe lines that are connected to the so-called “Building 500,” which is a suspected liquid and solid waste storage facility located near the laboratory. The Radiochemistry Laboratory is now “frozen” under the terms of the Agreed Framework signed in October 1994. [Note: According to defector Kim Tae Ho, the atmosphere at this facility was often chaotic because the workers were so disgruntled.]