Activity at North Korea’s Pyongsan uranium mine appears to have increased from 2017 to 2020, though its output still lags the country’s uranium processing capabilities, according to Stanford researchers who used artificial intelligence software in their analysis.
Uranium from Pyongsan can be refined into low-enriched uranium, which is suitable for nuclear power reactors, or high-enriched uranium, suitable for weapons. No outside visitors or international monitors have seen the Pyongsan mine since the IAEA’s last visit in 1992.
Sulgiye Park, lead author of the paper that appeared in the journal Science and Global Security last month, said she and her Stanford researchers worked with geospatial intelligence company Orbital Insight to apply machine learning software to satellite photos of Pyongsan to understand what was happening at the mine. Read More…
