![]() With Russian help, China might be able to accelerate this buildup even further. In 2020, the Pentagon predicted China would double its stockpile by the end of the decade, but by the end of 2022, it had already done so. And the more plutonium China can produce, the more nuclear weapons it can build.Ĭhina is already on track to multiply the size of its stockpile over the next several years, and it’s moving faster than the U.S. Perhaps worse, this development means that the more fuel Russia provides, the more plutonium China can produce. For starters, it proves that when Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping declared a “no limits” partnership in February 2022, they really meant it. This time, the implications of Russia’s aid to China’s plutonium reactors are quite significant. While tensions developed between the two states for much of the rest of the Cold War, causing nuclear aid to stop, they resumed cooperation in the 21 st century. It dates back to the 1950s, when the Soviet Union provided materials and technical assistance to China’s fledging nuclear program. Nuclear collaboration between Russia and China is not entirely new. ![]() China is thought to have already purchased more than 25,000 kilograms (55,000 pounds) of fuel for a price of $384 million since shipments from Russia began arriving in September. Recent reports reveal that Russia, through its state-owned nuclear corporation, Rosatom, has been providing fuel for China’s new fast-breeder reactors. For that reason, these reactors are useful for nuclear weapons programs. While China claims these reactors serve civilian purposes, they are also equally capable of producing weapons-grade plutonium.Ĭompared with a typical nuclear reactor that utilizes the energy from nuclear fission to power a generator or create electricity, a fast-breeder reactor can be designed to maximize the output of plutonium from the fission reactions. As part of the effort, China has been constructing new fast-breeder reactors called the CFR-600. With its newfound nuclear ambitions, China must remedy its limited access to plutonium. But at that time, China still maintained its historic posture of “minimum deterrence,” possessing just a very limited arsenal of nuclear weapons. The two plants were shut down in 19, respectively, leaving China with only a limited stockpile of plutonium. ![]() Historically, China operated two nuclear power plants capable of producing weapons-grade plutonium. does by 2035, if not sooner.Ĭentral to this nuclear buildup is China’s need for nuclear material namely, plutonium. It recently surpassed the United States in its number of long-range missile launchers, it has tested new and novel nuclear technologies, and it is now projected to possess at least as many nuclear weapons as the U.S. While recent discussion has focused on China providing Russia with lethal aid to support its aggression in Ukraine, a potentially more dangerous element to this budding relationship has just come into public view: Russian support for China’s nuclear buildup.Ĭhina is pursuing a significant nuclear expansion as part of its strategy to supplant the U.S. Policymakers are increasingly concerned about evidence of increasing cooperation between the United States’ two greatest adversaries, Russia and China.
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