HOW MUCH PLUTONIUM COULD AN IRT RESEARCH REACTOR LIKE NORTH KOREA'S PRODUCE?

II a prcviuus study, 1 as paIl uf thc Glubal NudcaI IvlalcIial CUUl1ul Ivluucl cffuH, I e~thHateu the maximum quantity of plutonium that could be produced in thermal research reactors in the potential nuclear weapon states (including North Korea), based on their declared power level. D. Albright has estimated the amount of plutonium the North Koreans may have produced since 1986 in the 5-megawatt-electric \"power\" reactor at Yongbyon. Albright provided an upper-bound estimate of weapon-grade plutonium produced cumulatively if the gas-graphite (magnox) reactor had achieved a load factor of 0.80. Albright's cumulative estimate ignores the potential plutonium production in the 8-megawatt-thermal research reactor, called the IRT-DPRK by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). To better quantify the possible cumulative North Korean production, I conducted a study to estimate the plutonium content in the irradiated material (peIM), that could have been produced in the IRT-DPRK research reactor operating at the declared power level during the entire period it has operated, including a period it was not safeguarded.