[KS] experimental nuclear reactor in South Korea

Balazs Szalontai HPHSZB01 at phd.ceu.hu
Fri Apr 29 12:58:15 EDT 2005


Thanks a lot for this valuable information! Do you mean that the construction of the experimental reactor in question was completed not long before 1968, that is, after 1964? If this was the case, then Siler's acticle may have been imprecise, though the term "nuclear reactor technology" is certainly not an explicit reference to an operating reactor. If this was so, then the construction of the South Korean reactor started years after that of the North Korean and South Vietnamese experimental reactors.

Unfortunately, I found only the abstracts of the Oxford Research Group reports, rather than the complete reports, on ORG's homepage, and the printed copies of these reports are unavailable in Hungary where I currently do archival research. 

All the best and thanks again,
Balazs 



I remember, as a student in an American high school in Korea, taking a school field trip to visit the brand new experimental small reactor in Seoul in winter of 1968/9.  KIST was the sponsor if I remember correctly. I believe a larger one was still under construction.
Bill Brown



>From: Lucas Hüsgen <lhusgen at kirogi.demon.nl> 
>Reply-To: Korean Studies Discussion List <Koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws> 
>To: "Korean Studies Discussion List" <Koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws> 
>Subject: Re: [KS] experimental nuclear reactor in South Korea 
>Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2005 15:11:32 +0200 
> 
>Dear Balazs, 
> 
> 
>the answer to your query may be found (I don't have it myself) in 
> 
>Oxford Research Group, Current Decisions No13, October 1993 
> 
>which is supposed to be a background paper on South Korea's nuclear   
>weapons program and attempts to obtain plutonium. 
> 
> 
>Best regards, 
> 
>Lucas Hüsgen 
> 
> 
> 
>On Tue, 26 Apr 2005 22:27:32 +0200, Balazs Szalontai 
><HPHSZB01 at phd.ceu.hu>  wrote: 
> 
>>Dear All, 
>> 
>>may I have a question about the South Korean nuclear program? In 
>>Michael L. Siler's article, "U.S. Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy 
>>in the 
>>Northeast Asian Region during the Cold War: The South Korean Case" 
>>("East Asia: An International Quarterly," Autumn/Winter 1998), 
>>there is 
>>a reference to that 
>> 
>>"Having received substantial U.S. and Western nuclear reactor 
>>technology and enriched uranium since the early 1960s, South Korea 
>>willingly ratified the Partial Test Ban Treaty (1964)." 
>> 
>>When exactly did the U.S. start assisting South Korea in the field 
>>of 
>>nuclear research and when did the construction of an experimental 
>>nuclear reactor begin in the ROK? I know that in 1959 the U.S. 
>>signed an 
>>agreement to assist South Vietnam in the field of nuclear research. 
>>In 
>>1958 Saigon established an Atomic Energy Office, in 1961 a nuclear 
>>research center was established in Da Lat, and in 1963, just before 
>>the 
>>fall of Ngo Dinh Diem, the construction of an experimental nuclear 
>>reactor was completed in the RVN. 
>> 
>>Thanks in advance, 
>>Balazs Szalontai 
>> 
>> 
> 
> 
> 
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> 
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