Nuclear power in North Korea

[4][5] As the center has not received fresh fuel since Soviet times, this reactor is now only run occasionally to produce iodine-131 for thyroid cancer radiation therapy.

[8] During the 1980s, the North Korean government realized that light-water reactors (LWRs) were better suited to producing large amounts of electricity, for which there was a growing requirement.

[9][10] The Institute of Atomic Energy (IAE) in Pyongyang was founded in 1985, initially to house a 20 MeV cyclotron and laboratories imported under an IAEA technical cooperation program from the Soviet Union.

Earlier, on 23 June, North Korea stated that it had begun to dismantle its nuclear program and declared that it would turn over all of its plans to the international community.

[2] In April 2013, amid rising tensions with the West, North Korea stated that it would restart the mothballed Yongbyon facility and resume production of weapons-grade plutonium.

The aforementioned article, referring to the alleged test as "a great event that demonstrated the rapidly developing cutting-edge science and technology of the DPRK", also made mention of efforts by North Korean scientists to develop "safe and environment-friendly new energy", and made no mention of plans to use fusion technology in its nuclear weapons program.

[15] In 2009 North Korea announced its intention to build an indigenous experimental light water reactor (LWR) and the uranium enrichment technology to provide its nuclear fuel.

[16] In November 2010, a group of non-governmental U.S. experts reported that they had visited North Korea's Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center, where they were shown an experimental 25–30 MWe light water reactor in the early stages of construction, and a 2,000-gas centrifuge uranium enrichment plant, which was said to be producing low enriched uranium (LEU) fuel for the reactor.

[21] In 2017, several activities were noted involving construction, a dam was built to provide sufficient amount of water for the cooling system, switchyard and connections to transmission line were made along with facilities presumably used for maintenance and repair.

[27][28][29][30] After the death of Kim Jong Il in December 2011, the IAEA announced its readiness to return nuclear inspectors to North Korea, from which they were expelled in 2009, as soon as an agreement could be reached on steps towards denuclearization.