Blast Yield
There is confusion however on the scale of the suspected nuclear blast, due to the different magnitude readings picked up by the different monitoring systems. Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said the North Korean nuclear device was the equivalent of 5 to 15 kilotons of TNT. Calculations based on the US Geological Survey and South Korean results suggest an explosion between 550 tons to 1 kiloton of TNT. In comparsion, the bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 was the equivalent of 13 kilotons of TNT. As North Korea is believed to have developed weapons witha yield of 10-20 kilotons, the low yield of the test suggests that either the weapon was a 'dud', and didn't explode as expected, or that the test was a fake.
Mb = 4.262 + .973LogW
Where Mb is the magnitude of the body wave, and W is the yield (calculation from ArmsControlWonk).
After the October 3 North Korean announcement that they were preparing to test, a US "sniffer" plane that looks for radioactive isotopes began flying between Japan and North Korea. When the results from their sample missions become available in about 72 hours, it will become clearer whether North Korea really has tested a nuclear device.
If confirmed North Korea becomes the world's eighth publicly declared nuclear power, following the United States, Russia, France, China, Britain, India and Pakistan. Israel has not publicy declared its nulcear weapon stockpile.
Background
North Korea main reactor for creating plutonium is the 1986 Yongbyon reactor. From 1989, North Korea began reprocessing nuclear rods, producing about 6 to 12 kilos of plutonium, or enough for one to two nuclear weapons. (See satellite imagery of Yongbyon plant.) An agreement with the United States in October 1994 shut down Yongbyong, but North Korea announced in 2003 that it had pulled out of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). It started up Yongbyong once again, removing 8,000 rods for re-processing into plutonium at different stages in October 2003 and again in March 2005.
According to former US government officials North Korea has anywhere from 20 to 53 kilograms of plutonium, giving it enough to make from 4 to 13 nuclear weapons.
Official Statement from North Korea's Korean Central News Agency:
"The field of scientific research in the DPRK (North Korea)
successfully conducted an underground nuclear test under secure
conditions on October 9, Juche 95 (2006) at a stirring time when all
the people of the country are making a great leap forward in the
building of a great, prosperous, powerful socialist nation."It has been confirmed that there was no such danger as radioactive
emission in the course of the nuclear test as it was carried out
under a scientific consideration and careful calculation."The nuclear test was conducted with indigenous wisdom and
technology 100%. It marks a historic event as it greatly encouraged
and pleased the KPA (Korean People's Army) and people that have
wished to have powerful self-reliant defence capability."It will contribute to defending the peace and stability on the
Korean peninsula and in the area around it."
Related sources
North Korea's official government news page translated to English by the Korea News Service.
The
Korea Herald
, an English language newspaper
South
Korean site Oh My News.
Washington
Post
New
York Times
Los
Angles Times
USA
Today
Wall
Street Journal
Reuters
Q&A:
North Korea's Nuclear Program
Associated Press
The
Meaning of the North Korean Nuclear Weapons Test
Center for Strategic & International Studies
US Geological Survey Comprehesive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) monitoring system
A description of the Yongbyon facility by an unofficial US delegation
