2007年VOA标准英语-US Says N. Korea Shutdown of Yongbyon Reactor a

By Stephanie Ho
Washington
15 July 2007

U.S. National Security Advisor¹ Stephen Hadley says Washington still has concerns about North Korea's nuclear program, despite Pyongyang's decision to shut down its main plutonium reprocessing facility. VOA's Stephanie Ho reports from Washington.

Stephen Hadley (file photo)

National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley says it appears the North Koreans have indeed shut down their main plutonium reprocessing facility at Yongbyon, about 100 kilometers north of Pyongyang. International inspectors² arrived in North Korea Saturday.

"The inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency are on the scene with their equipment," he said. "They will go to the facility and they will be able to confirm that in the next few days, but it appears that the facility is shut down."

Shutting down the reactor³ was part of a February 13 deal agreed to by the six nations involved in talks on the North Korean nuclear crisis. These countries include the United States, North Korea, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia. They are to meet again Wednesday in Beijing .

inspection4 team, loads equipment onto a truck upon arrival in North Korea" hspace="2" src="/upimg/allimg/070716/1422001.jpg" width="210" vspace="2" border="0" />

Adel Tolba, right, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) inspection team, loads equipment onto a truck upon arrival in North Korea

In North Korea, the international inspectors are supervising the country's nuclear disarmament and rebuilding the surveillance system that was dismantled⁵ when they were expelled from the country four years ago.

Speaking on Fox News Sunday, Hadley called the shutdown of the Yongbyon reactor a good first step. He warned that Washington is still concerned about a separate North Korean program to enrich uranium, which can also be used for nuclear weapons.

"It means they [North Korea] will no longer be able to reprocess to produce the nuclear weapons of those nuclear weapons that are made out of plutonium," he said. "We have concerns that they may have a covert⁶ enrichment program."

The Bush administration says North Korea also has a nuclear program that relies on highly-enriched uranium. Pyongyang only publicly acknowledges its plutonium program.

Hadley stressed that the six-party agreement also requires North Korea to provide a full accounting⁷ of all of its nuclear weapons, nuclear processing plants, and stored nuclear material it has already accumulated. He said that would include any uranium enrichment efforts, which he added will be one of the next subjects of discussion.

North Korea's spent nuclear fuel rods, which are kept in cooling pond, are seen at nuclear facilities in Yongbyon (file photo)

Under the February agreement, North Korea agreed to shut down its nuclear facilities in return for energy aid and other possible benefits. North Korea announced the shutdown of the Yongbyon reactor Saturday as it received its first shipment of more than 6,000 tons of fuel oil from South Korea.

The deal calls for North Korea to eventually receive one million tons of fuel oil. U.S. officials also are working on the possibility of replacing the armistice⁸ agreement that ended the Korean War with a formal treaty.

1 advisor   

n.顾问，指导老师，劝告者

参考例句：

• They employed me as an advisor.他们聘请我当顾问。
• The professor is engaged as a technical advisor.这位教授被聘请为技术顾问。

2 inspectors   

n.检查员( inspector的名词复数 )；（英国公共汽车或火车上的）查票员；（警察）巡官；检阅官

参考例句：

• They got into the school in the guise of inspectors. 他们假装成视察员进了学校。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Inspectors checked that there was adequate ventilation. 检查员已检查过，通风良好。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 reactor   

n.反应器；反应堆

参考例句：

• The atomic reactor generates enormous amounts of thermal energy.原子反应堆发出大量的热能。
• Inside the reactor the large molecules are cracked into smaller molecules.在反应堆里，大分子裂变为小分子。

4 inspection   

n.检查，审查，检阅

参考例句：

• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。
• The soldiers lined up for their daily inspection by their officers.士兵们列队接受军官的日常检阅。

5 dismantled   

拆开( dismantle的过去式和过去分词 )； 拆卸； 废除； 取消

参考例句：

• The plant was dismantled of all its equipment and furniture. 这家工厂的设备和家具全被拆除了。
• The Japanese empire was quickly dismantled. 日本帝国很快被打垮了。

6 covert   

adj.隐藏的；暗地里的

参考例句：

• We should learn to fight with enemy in an overt and covert way.我们应学会同敌人做公开和隐蔽的斗争。
• The army carried out covert surveillance of the building for several months.军队对这座建筑物进行了数月的秘密监视。

7 accounting   

n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表

参考例句：

• A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
• There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。

8 armistice   

n.休战，停战协定

参考例句：

• The two nations signed an armistice.两国签署了停火协议。
• The Italian armistice is nothing but a clumsy trap.意大利的停战不过是一个笨拙的陷阱。