BEIJING – Research by Chinese geologists shows the mountain above NorthKorea’s main nuclear test site has collapsed, rendering it unsafe forfurther testing and requiring that it be monitored for any leakingradiation.
The findings by the scientists at the University of Science and Technologyof China may shed new light on North Korean President Kim Jong Un’sannouncement that his country was ceasing its testing program ahead ofplanned summit meetings with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and USPresident Donald Trump.
Nuclear explosions release enormous amounts of heat and energy, and theNorth’s largest test in September was believed early on to have renderedthe site in northeastern North Korea unstable.
Chinese authorities have said they’ve detected no radiation risk fromsamples collected along the border. Calls to those departments were notimmediately answered today.
The data in the latest Chinese study was collected following the mostpowerful of the North’s six nuclear device tests on Sept. 3 that isbelieved to have triggered four earthquakes over the following weeks. Theyield of the bomb was estimated at more than 100 kilotons of TNT, at least10 times stronger than anything the North had tested previously.
(The bomb the United States dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 had a yield ofabout 15 kilotons.) The University of Science and Technology of Chinapaper, authored by Tian Dongdong, Yao Jiawen and Wen Lianxing, said thefirst of those earthquakes that occurred eight-and-a-half minutes after theexplosion was “an onsite collapse toward the nuclear test center,” whilethose that followed were an “earthquake swarm” in similar locations.
“In view of the research finding that the North Korea nuclear test site atMantapsan has collapsed, it is necessary to continue to monitor any leakageof radioactive materials that may have been caused by the collapse,” theauthors said in a summary dated Monday and viewed Wednesday on theuniversity’s website.
The study is peer-reviewed and has been accepted for publication by thejournal Geophysical Research Letters. – Agencies