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Think Tank: North Korea Appears to Have Restarted Plutonium Reactor

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un waves at parade participants at the Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea. North Korea is marking Kim Jong Un's birthday Sunday, Jan. 8, 2017 in a decidedly low-key manner. Though the young leader's birthday is well-known throughout the country, it has yet to be celebrated with the kind of adulatory festivities that accompany the birthdays of his late grandfather and father. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E, File)

WASHINGTON – New commercial satellite imagery indicates North Korea has resumed operation of a reactor at its main nuclear site used to produce plutonium for its nuclear weapons program, a U.S. think tank said on Friday.

Washington’s 38 North North Korea monitoring project said previous analysis from Jan. 18 showed signs that North Korea was preparing to restart the reactor at Yongbyon, having previously unloaded spent fuel rods for reprocessing to produce additional plutonium for its nuclear weapons stockpile.

“Imagery from January 22 shows a water plume (most probably warm) originating from the cooling water outlet of the reactor, an indication that the reactor is very likely operating,” it said in a report.

It said it was impossible to estimate at what power level the reactor was running, “although it may be considerable.”

North Korea has maintained its nuclear and missile programs in violation of repeated rounds of international sanctions.

DAVID BRUNNSTROM