U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell says North Korea's explanation that a blast last week was demolition work for a power project squared with Washington's intelligence analysis of the explosion.

Powell told Reuters News Agency Tuesday that "the information the North gave is consistent with what Washington saw" adding the blast might have been related to demolition work for a hydroelectric facility.

The U.S. assessment is likely to help dispel speculation that the explosion was related to North Korean military activity or a nuclear arms test, as has been widely speculated by both local and foreign media outlets.

Earlier on Sunday, Powell had said that the explosion was probably not a nuclear test, but had made no comment on Pyongyang's explanation for the blast.