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September 21, 2005
North Korea Can't Handle a Light Water Nuclear Reactor
It seems that North Korea needs a power grid 10 times larger than the one it currently has to handle the energy generated by one light water nuclear reactor. Their grid is so primitive and small that it is unable to handle the electricity generated by something with so much power. What this implies is that the light water reactor issue is a political ploy, something that the North Koreans are using to further other political interests, like keeping their nuclear weapons. The Nautilus Institute provided the analysis, which you can find here. There is an article here too.
According to the Nautilus Institute, a California-based research group on Northeast Asian energy isues, the deal was doomed from the start.
"The North Korean grid could not then, nor could it ever, have supported these two reactors as the grid was far too small and simple to run such large and potentially hazardous units," the institute said in a July report.
One of the report's co-authors, South Korean nuclear expert Kang Jungmin, said Pyongyang's demand for the reactors was a political gesture made against the advice of the country's own power experts.
"To consume the electricity generated by such reactors, North Korea would need a power grid 10 times the size of what they now have," Kang said.
"They simply cannot even use the reactors, even if they ever get them," he said.
Posted by Chip Spear at September 21, 2005 9:27 AM