# North Korea's new uranium plant at Yongbyon

> UN inspectors, locked out since 2009, found a second enrichment hall at Yongbyon by matching satellite images to Kim Jong-un's own state TV tour.
- Title: North Korea's new uranium plant at Yongbyon · the Guardian
- Summary: UN inspectors, locked out since 2009, found a second enrichment hall at Yongbyon by matching satellite images to Kim Jong-un's own state TV tour. North Korea…
- Keywords: north korea, nuclear weapons, iaea, yongbyon, proliferation, news, world, North, Korea's, uranium, plant, the Guardian
- Source: the Guardian — https://theguardian.com/world/2026/sep/10/north-korea-has-built-new-uranium-facility-to-expand-nuclear-arsenal-un-agency-says
- Published: 2026-09-10T05:08:46+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: north korea, nuclear weapons, iaea, yongbyon, proliferation, news, world
## A new building at Yongbyon
The IAEA reported this week that North Korea has finished a facility at its main Yongbyon site built to enrich weapons-grade uranium. It can hold up to 28 centrifuge cascades.
## Found without inspectors
IAEA staff were thrown out of the country in 2009. Analysts identified the building by comparing construction-era satellite images with state media photos of Kim Jong-un's visit in June.
## Kangson is growing too
The same report finds expanded operations at the enrichment site in Kangson, near Pyongyang. Two plants running at once, not one.

> The ongoing operation of enrichment facilities at Kangson and Yongbyon... is a cause for serious concern
## Three or four more warheads a year
Outside analysts estimate 28 cascades, about 4,592 centrifuges, could produce roughly 85kg of highly enriched uranium annually. That is enough fuel for three or four extra bombs.
## Kim says capacity has doubled
On his June tour, Kim claimed output of weapons-grade material had more than doubled in five years, and promised plans to strengthen nuclear forces exponentially.

> vast future plans to exponentially strengthen the country's nuclear forces
## Nobody agrees on the count
Seoul's defence minister put the arsenal at 80 to 120 warheads in August; Donald Trump said 57 the same month. South Korea's military says it cannot confirm either figure.
## Key takeaway

North Korea is scaling bomb-fuel production in plain sight, and the outside world is now measuring it from orbit rather than from inside the fence.