Putin helping China make plutonium for nuclear weapons, warns US
The US says Russian President Vladimir Putin is delivering high-enriched uranium to Beijing to help its ally match America’s arsenal.
Moscow is cementing its alliance with Beijing through deliveries of high-enriched uranium that are fuelling China’s race to match the nuclear arsenal of the United States, the Pentagon has warned.
President Xi’s military chiefs are seeking nuclear parity with Washington by increasing the number of nuclear warheads from the current estimated 350 to 400 to 1500 by 2035.
That total would approximately equal the strategic nuclear arsenal of the US, limited to 1,550 warheads by New Start, the only remaining arms control treaty between the US and Russia, which President Putin has announced could be abandoned.
Russia’s strategic partnership with China is playing a crucial part in making that projected target possible, John Plumb, assistant secretary of defence for space policy, said.
The regular supply of enriched uranium, provided by Rosatom, the Russian state nuclear energy corporation, was being used in China’s fast-breeder reactors to produce plutonium for weapons, he told a Congressional committee. “It’s very troubling to see Russia and China co-operating on this,” said Plumb.
“They may have talking points around it but there’s no getting around the fact that breeder reactors are plutonium, and plutonium is for weapons, and it matches our concerns about China’s increased expansion of its nuclear forces, because you need plutonium for more weapons,” he said.
China has been building two fast-breeder reactors on Changbiao Island in Fujian province. The island is 136 miles off the northern coast of Taiwan. The first reactor is completed and the second will become operational in 2026. China says that the reactors are civilian and each is capable of generating 600 megawatts of electricity. However, it is estimated that they could also produce up to 200kg of weapons-grade plutonium each year. This would be enough for about 50 nuclear warheads.
Under the fast-breeder technique, plutonium is wrapped in uranium-238 and bombarded with neutrons, which produces plutonium-239, the fuel for nuclear bombs.
The Pentagon has warned that China is building hundreds of new silos to house intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and already has more land-based and mobile ICBM launchers than the US. The US total, also limited by international treaties, is 400 Minuteman III ICBMs spread among 450 operational launchers.
China’s nuclear programme is not restricted by New Start, which was signed only by the US and Russia in 2010. “Beijing is not interested in agreements that restrict its plans and will not agree to negotiations that lock in US or Russian advantages,” said the latest annual intelligence report assessing threats facing the US and presented to Congress.
Two weeks ago Putin suspended Russia’s participation in New Start in retaliation for the continuing US-led arming of Ukraine. There have also been indications that he plans to breach the treaty limits on strategic nuclear missiles and warheads.
Putin also warned that Moscow would be ready to resume nuclear weapons tests if Washington does. Russia has the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons in the world, with more than 6,000 warheads. Between them, Moscow and Washington possess 90 per cent of the world’s nuclear weapons.
The report warned that China’s expansion of its nuclear arsenal and the construction of hundreds more silos for ICBMs would give Beijing growing confidence and “bolster its resolve and intensify conventional conflicts”.
Plumb said: “Our competitors have placed nuclear weapons, space warfare and long-range strike at the centre of their strategies to coerce and fight the United States and its allies and partners.” In a clear reference to China, he said their competitors were developing a range of capabilities to reach the US homeland, from “high-altitude balloons for intelligence collection to nuclear-armed hypersonic weapons”.
“While the end state of the PRC’s [People’s Republic of China] nuclear force expansion remains uncertain, the trajectory of these efforts points to a large, diverse nuclear arsenal, with a high degree of survivability, reliability and effectiveness, and ever-opaque doctrine,” Plumb said.
“This could provide the PRC with new options before and during a crisis or conflict to leverage nuclear weapons for coercive purposes, including military provocations against US allies and partners in the region,” he warned.
The report concluded that China would maintain its co-operation with Russia as part of that strategic challenge to the US. Xi is expected to use all means to undermine US influence in the world, it said.
The Times
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