SEOUL, (PNA/Xinhua) — South Korea has finished building a laboratory that can assist analyzing nuclear material samples from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Yonhap news agency quoted the country’s Nuclear Safety and Security Commission as saying on Wednesday.
The commission said the Clean Laboratory for Analysis of Safeguards Samples (CLASS) will begin receiving test samples from the IAEA within this year and help determine whether a country engages in nuclear activities and violates IAEA’s safeguards protocol.
The IAEA approved South Korea’s membership in its network of analytical laboratories (NWAL) last December on condition that the South Korean laboratory is able to detect and weigh 1 nanogram (one-billionth of a gram) of uranium and 1 picogram (one-trillionth of a gram) of plutonium in any given sample, according to the commission.
“With the construction of the laboratory, the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute will be able to start receiving IAEA samples within the year and begin its analysis of international inspection samples, and also join the NWAL in the area of particle analysis following its membership in the area of bulk analysis,” the commission was quoted by Yonhap as saying.
Comparing with bulk analysis, particle analysis is more accurate that can help determine whether a country reprocessed spent fuel, possibly to generate weapons-grade nuclear material through analyzing radioactive isotopes, the commission said.