Beijing: If the six-party talks aimed at denuclearizing North Korea make progress, spent nuclear fuel rods from the country's key nuclear reactor could be reprocessed in Britain, diplomatic sources said Friday.

Britain's Sellafield Site is a possible candidate for the reprocessing of the fuel rods from the reactor in the Yongbyon nuclear complex, which is currently being disabled as part of a six-party denuclearization deal, the sources said.

One of the sources said the United States, a key party in the six-way process, has had "very preliminary" contacts with British authorities over the possibility of the reprocessing operation, and also asked for an estimate of the cost that would be involved.

When asked to confirm such contacts, Britain's Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, which owns the site, said by e-mail, "There are a few places in the world where this type of reprocessing could be handled, and Sellafield is one of them."

The nuclear fuel rods are currently being pulled from the North Korean reactor in Yongbyon, about 90 kilometers from the capital Pyongyang, and put into an adjacent water pond as part of a process to disable the nuclear facility.

The discharging of the fuel rods is being carried out under a landmark six-party deal struck last year, in which North Korea agreed to disable its nuclear facilities and give a full account of its nuclear programs in exchange for energy assistance.

More than a quarter of the approximately 8,000 fuel rods at the Yongbyon reactor have already been pulled.

Source : PTI