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: 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)

Primary Function: Research and development

Description: North Korea first established an Atomic Energy Research Institute (原子力硏究所) under its Academy of Sciences in December 1952. The institute was moved to the Yŏngbyŏn Nuclear Research Center in the early 1960s, and the institute currently has three branches: Wŏnsan in Kangwŏn Province, Pakchŏn in North P’yŏng’an Province, and Nanam-kuyŏk in North Hamgyŏng Province. [Note: Nanam-kuyŏk is a district in the City of Ch’ŏngjin.] The Nanam-kuyŏk branch was established in 1980, but it is uncertain when the other two branches were founded. In 1987, construction began on buildings to house an MGC-20 cyclotron and other facilities for the institute in the “Sŏsan area, in Man’gyŏngdae-kuyŏk (萬景臺區域) about eight kilometers west of the center of Pyongyang.” However, Sŏsan-dong is in Sŏsŏng-kuyŏk. The institute’s precise function and staffing, as well as the administrative status of the facilities in Sŏsan-dong, are unclear.

	Updated April 2003

Key Sources:
“Pukhanŭi Haekkwanryŏn Yŏnguhwaldong,” Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, <http://www.kaeri.re.kr>; “Shisabaekkwa: Pukhaek: Ilchi,” Chosun Ilbo, <http://nk.chosun.com>; “Pukhan Paekkwa: Kwahakkisul Yŏn’gukikwan,” Joongang Ilbo, <http://nk.joins.com>; Yuri G. Sevastianov, “Final Report,” IAEA, 3 March 1988.