--- title: "Yongbyon nuclear complex: North Korea Strategic Site Dossier | Save North Korea" description: "Yongbyon nuclear complex (Nuclear): The heart of the nuclear program: reactors that make plutonium, a reprocessing plant and a uranium enrichment hall." url: "https://savenorthkorea.org/places/yongbyon" language: en translations: en: https://savenorthkorea.org/places/yongbyon ko: https://savenorthkorea.org/ko/places/yongbyon ja: https://savenorthkorea.org/ja/places/yongbyon zh-Hans: https://savenorthkorea.org/zh/places/yongbyon --- [Key sites](https://savenorthkorea.org/places) · [Nuclear](https://savenorthkorea.org/places#nuclear) Nuclear # Yongbyon nuclear complex The heart of the nuclear program: reactors that make plutonium, a reprocessing plant and a uranium enrichment hall. **Operating** status ![Yongbyon nuclear complex](https://savenorthkorea.org/img/places/yongbyon.jpg) [Photo via Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Yongbyon%5F5MWe%5FMagnox%5Freactor.jpg) Yongbyon nuclear complex · 39.8000°N, 125.7540°E [Google Maps ↗](https://www.google.com/maps/@39.8,125.754,15z/data=!3m1!1e3) · Imagery © Esri, Maxar, Earthstar Geographics [ Open on the intel map](https://savenorthkorea.org/map#sites=yongbyon)[ North Korea’s military](https://savenorthkorea.org/military) ## Satellite watch Captured 11 Oct 2026 Our own images of this 7.7 km square from the European Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites: the newest clear picture, and the clearest one from each of the last 24 months. One pixel is 10 m, enough to see roads, fields, ponds and large buildings, not people. ![Sentinel-2 satellite image of Yongbyon nuclear complex, 7.7 km across, captured 11 Oct 2026](https://savenorthkorea.org/img/sentinel/yongbyon/2026-10-11.jpg) ![Sentinel-2 satellite image of Yongbyon nuclear complex, 7.7 km across, captured 16 Oct 2025](https://savenorthkorea.org/img/sentinel/yongbyon/2025-10-16.jpg) 16 Oct 2025 11 Oct 2026 **Before: 16 Oct 2025** Cloud in this square: 0% Scene [S2B\_51TYE\_20251016\_1\_L2A](https://earth-search.aws.element84.com/v1/collections/sentinel-2-l2a/items/S2B%5F51TYE%5F20251016%5F1%5FL2A) [Open this day in Copernicus Browser ↗](https://browser.dataspace.copernicus.eu/?zoom=13&lat=39.80000&lng=125.75400&themeId=DEFAULT-THEME&datasetId=S2%5FL2A%5FCDAS&fromTime=2025-10-16T00%3A00%3A00.000Z&toTime=2025-10-16T23%3A59%3A59.999Z&layerId=1%5FTRUE%5FCOLOR) **After: 11 Oct 2026** Cloud in this square: 0% Scene [S2B\_51TYE\_20261011\_0\_L2A](https://earth-search.aws.element84.com/v1/collections/sentinel-2-l2a/items/S2B%5F51TYE%5F20261011%5F0%5FL2A) [Open this day in Copernicus Browser ↗](https://browser.dataspace.copernicus.eu/?zoom=13&lat=39.80000&lng=125.75400&themeId=DEFAULT-THEME&datasetId=S2%5FL2A%5FCDAS&fromTime=2026-10-11T00%3A00%3A00.000Z&toTime=2026-10-11T23%3A59%3A59.999Z&layerId=1%5FTRUE%5FCOLOR) Pick a month to compare with the latest image We pick each image by measuring cloud inside this square from the satellite’s own scene classification. Months with no clear image are left out. We do not mark or interpret anything in the pictures. The ring marks the point on our map. Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2024-2026 · [Copernicus Data Space](https://dataspace.copernicus.eu/) · [Sentinel-2 L2A COGs (AWS)](https://registry.opendata.aws/sentinel-2-l2a-cogs/) ## Source - [**Wikipedia** en.wikipedia.org ↗ ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyongbyon%5FNuclear%5FScientific%5FResearch%5FCenter) ## More nuclear sites - [ © Esri, Maxar Nuclear **Kangson enrichment site** Operating Suspected covert uranium enrichment plant near Pyongyang. Kim Jong Un visited an enrichment facility in 2024 in a rare public photo-op. ](https://savenorthkorea.org/places/kangson) - [![Punggye-ri nuclear test site](https://savenorthkorea.org/img/places/punggye-ri.jpg) Nuclear **Punggye-ri nuclear test site** Restored, ready for a 7th test All six nuclear tests (2006-2017) happened here. Tunnels were blown up for cameras in 2018, then repaired. ](https://savenorthkorea.org/places/punggye-ri) - [ © Esri, Maxar Nuclear **Pyongsan uranium mill** Operating Mines and processes uranium ore into yellowcake, the raw material for the enrichment program. ](https://savenorthkorea.org/places/pyongsan)