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Satellite Images Suggest N. Korea Has Restarted Small Nuclear Reactor
mdsolar writes "Recent satellite imagery suggests that North Korea has restarted a small nuclear reactor, allowing the secretive nation to potentially bolster its stockpile of plutonium for weapons, a U.S. research institute said Thursday. The North had said five months ago that it would restart key operations at its Yongbyon nuclear facility 'without delay.' The report from the U.S.-Korea Institute at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies indicates that it is quietly going ahead with that pledge — and facing few apparent problems in firing up a reactor mothballed for six years. Commercial satellite images from Aug. 31 show two plumes of white steam rising from a turbine building adjacent to the reactor. That steam is an essential byproduct of the reactor's operation, and its venting suggests the 'electrical generating system is about to come online,' the report said."
If by "end of life as we know it" you mean "another round of them being provocative to get attention and remain in the news" or "more talks of sanctions and deals" then.... yes, life as we know it is going to totally end...and by end, I mean not change one bit.
"I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
It's only a minute increase, but anything that increases the likelihood of a nuclear war isn't a good thing.
Neither China nor Russia are going to start The Big One over North Korea, especially if NK shoots first.
Kim-Jong Un does not represent an existential threat to the world. He represents an existential threat to the city of Seoul, SK. He is essentially the world's largest municipal disturbance. Don't give him more credit than he deserves.
It has nothing to do with race. The North Koreans have isolated themselves from the rest of the world for decades.
It isn't just Japan that's much more advanced, it's South Korea (who are almost identical racially) and everywhere esle.
Race baiting asshole.
Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
Actually, I think that NK power plant is much safer than the Japanese or American ones. You mess something up and cause an accident in a Japanese or American power plant, you may get fined and lose you job. someone messes up The Powerplant That Will Bring Us Victory (not even permanent damage) - he gets shot. Not wanting to get shot is quite good motivator for people to be more careful.
NK scientists are practically apes compared to Japanese scientists.
...you are racist scum...
That's not racist.
>> why there was no quick & decisive Libya-style action?
Probably at least five reasons:
1) Libya's a lot further away from Iran than Syria
2) Russia had Syria's back, not so much Libya's
3) The UK told the US to pound sand, and I wonder how much of that was due to us making fun of their operational capacity in Libya (e.g., http://www.defensenews.com/article/20120207/DEFREG01/302070008/Ability-U-K-Conduct-Future-Libya-Style-Campaign-Questioned)
4) In Libya Qaddafi was still known and hated in the US and Europe blowing up an airline filled with their citizens, whereas Syria's leader was "just" suspected to have used chemical weapons on his own people (sort of a micro-Saddam)
5) Obama's public rationale for going to war with Syria was almost identical to Bush's public rationale for going to war with Iraq (See #4), and Obama's trying as hard as he can to avoid looking like Bush
Given that steam turbines normally operate in an enclosed system; the steam venting simply suggests the cooling system is back online. Sorry how geeky did you want it?
Build a Man a Fire, and He'll Be Warm for a Day. Set a Man on Fire, and He'll Be Warm for the Rest of His Life.
It's questionable whether they even have any, or ever detonated one, as opposed to a pile of tnt with uranium sprinkled on it.
Our governments would know, but letting them know we know is a separate strategy issue.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
It wasn't a hoax. We detonated 500-someodd devices over a period of decades of testing, in the atmosphere rather than on the ground.
Look, when the Chicxulub asteroid hit and the dinosaurs went extinct, was it because the dinosaurs were all on vacation in southern Mexico and the asteroid landed on their heads? No, of course not; the debris launched into the atmosphere interfered with plant growth, which meant the herbivores starved, which then meant the carnivores starved.
A massive ground (not atmospheric) detonation of the world nuclear stockpile in a matter of days (not decades) would absolutely have a similar effect. It probably wouldn't cause human extinction, but you would certainly see a few billion people starve, and nothing collapses a civilization faster than losing its food supply.
NK started their nuke program in the 80s, extracting plutonium through the 80s and 90s, resulting in their first successful test in 2006.
So what. The USA has over 100 reactors running, and have more nuclear weapons than any other country, and is the only country to have used nuclear weapons (on children, women and other civilians) so don't worry about North Korea having a little reactor, worry about USA instead.
Signature intentionally left blank.
Wrong. That's actually a good motivation to cover up fuckups.
Like reporting to your superiors that your reactor is intact and there is no problem even though there are chunks of burning graphite moderator on the ground all around the plant - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Individual_involvement_in_the_Chernobyl_disaster#Dyatlov
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
The US gov asked n. Korea to start making noise to distract us from Syria.
Silence is a state of mime.
Perhaps not so irrational when he probably anticipated that both the USA and the USSR would lob all 10,000+ weapons at each other in one round. Those 500 devices detonated were of varying sizes and spread out over decades, not thousands upon thousands all detonated within an hour of each other. Consider that a large explosive volcanic eruption (such as Mount St. Helens) - a localized event - can throw enough particulate matter into the atmosphere to cause widespread cooling for several seasons.
Now consider thousands of 10kt to 100mt devices being detonated all over three continents (central North America, northern Asia, and eastern Europe), all vaporizing and shattering all kinds of matter including silicates as well as creating a lot of soot and water vapor. I think in a MAD situation that his nuclear winter hypothesis is fairly plausible. It's fair to point out that only a few 100mt-design devices existed and that most were much smaller, but in 1982 between the USA and the USSR the actively deployed warheads (numbering 23,000 - with a stockpile of about 70,000!!) available for immediate launch was 12,300 megatons - so they averaged about 500kt each. As of today there is still about 25,000 nuclear weapons between the two nations (USA and Russia) plus an indeterminate number from other powers.
As far as North Korea is concerned - it seems they just want to talk without being threatened, and when they see us (the USA) lead by puppets who are bought and paid for by warmongering profiteers, why shouldn't they pursue a nuclear deterrent? Our government is very dangerous and are ignoring the will of the people with all of the sabre-rattling in the Middle East, and innuendos toward NK. Why should they not build weapons to deter what is perceived as imperialism? Besides, without talks, for all we know, NK is just trying to continue to industrialized and become a civilized society and may just be using the power plants which have already been bought and paid for since it makes good financial sense than to throw away a perfectly good generator and wait 5-10 years for new power plants to be completed.
The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
If by "end of life as we know it" you mean "another round of them being provocative to get attention and remain in the news" or "more talks of sanctions and deals" then.... yes, life as we know it is going to totally end...and by end, I mean not change one bit.
And by not changing one bit you assume that it is not possible for a North Korean instigated military confrontation, like the ship they torpedoed several years ago, or another missile launch over Japan going awry, could spiral out of control leading to an exchange of nuclear weapons on the Korean peninsula, North Korean nuclear strikes against both Japan and American forces in Japan, the intervention of China to prevent the collapse of North Korea? And if we're lucky, the Chinese intervention doesn't involve nuclear weapons, including a nuclear attack against the US as advocated by high ranking Chinese military officials in recent years? If the nukes start flying between the US and China, would the Chinese government possibly decide to take out the last remnants of the former government of China, the Republic of China, which has only had control of the Chinese province of Taiwan since it effectively lost the Chinese civil war? After all, with Chinas recent moves toward a market economy the mainland could fit in under the Republic of China's government if the Communist government were decapitated. I'm pretty sure that a series of nuclear weapons going off in South Korea, North Korea, Japan, the US, China, and Taiwan could at least alter life as we know if, or "end it" depending on the definition of that. Hey look! Nuclear Winter! Hmm, climate change just got another thing to incorporate into the model. The Russians, what will they be doing at this time? In the late 1960s the Soviet Union approached the US to see if it would acquiesce to a Soviet attack on China to destroy its nuclear program. The US said, "no." If the nukes are flying, would the Chinese send a few Russia's way? Would Russia decide there is no time like now to finish things with China? If China attacks Russia, would Russia only attack China, or would it send a few towards Europe and the US? The Russians have already threatened nuclear attacks against the NATO missile shield against Iran. China and India are already engaged in a military confrontation. Does something happen there? Pakistan and India are bitter enemies, and both are nuclear armed. Pakistan is an ally of China, and playing a double game, both for and against the US in Afghanistan. An enormous web of possibilities. But I suppose a wave of the hand will always do here: this is not the conflict you're looking for, forget all about it, nothing will happen or change. Life as you know it will continue, there is no threat. Not even of plague.
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
That's a big assumption; they may have just finally got around the electing Best Pope.
As far as North Korea is concerned - it seems they just want to talk without being threatened
That's the most generous description of North Korea I've ever seen in English. Remember we're talking about a regime who executes people by running over them with tanks in front of their entire regiment, led by a man who had his ex-girlfriend executed.
I'm absolutely opposed to invading North Korea, but it's important to remember they are not some poor, misunderstood nice guys.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."