NUCLEAR RECORDS
"These operating records date back to 1986 and are expected to cover reactor operations and all three reprocessing campaigns undertaken by North Korea," the State Department said of the plutonium logs.
"Review of the operating records provided on May 8 will be an important first step in the process of verifying that North Korea's declaration is complete and correct," it added.
North Korea, which tested a nuclear device in October 2006, is thought by Washington to have produced about 110 lbs (50 kg) of plutonium, which proliferation experts said is enough for about eight nuclear bombs.
The documents consist of the operating records of the Yongbyon nuclear complex where North Korea has produced its stock of weapons-grade plutonium until it was shut down in July last year under a deal with the United States, Japan, the two Koreas, China and Russia.
Since November, U.S. experts have been on the ground at Yongbyon overseeing disablement of the Soviet-era reactor and the State Department said eight out of 11 agreed disablement activities at three core facilities on the complex had been completed.
As of mid-May, more than one-third of spent fuel rods had been discharged, the State Department added.
The main sticking point in the declaration has been Pyongyang's reluctance to discuss any transfer of nuclear technology to other countries, notably Syria, as well as its suspected pursuit of uranium enrichment.
U.S. President George W. Bush said in late April he released intelligence about the suspected North Korea-Syria nuclear collusion to put pressure on Pyongyang to come clean on all its nuclear activities.
Pyongyang has yet to respond to White House charges that North Korea was helping Syria build the reactor that could produce arms-grade plutonium.
