Chinese Academy of Engineering Physics (CAEP)

Chinese Academy of Engineering Physics (CAEP)

中国工程物理研究院

DIRECTOR: Zhongwu Yuan; former heads of CAEP have included Zhu Zhulang and Hu Side.

OTHER NAMES: Ninth Academy, Science City; Zitong Facility; Mianyang Facility

Located near Mianyang in the mountains northwest of Chengdu, Sichuan Province (104.46E/31.28N). CAEP was established in the 1960s. It conducts work related to the research, development, and testing of nuclear weapons. CAEP duplicates, and has taken over most of the responsibilities of the Haiyan facility.

The CAEP also conducts a wide variety of arms control work through its Institute of Applied Physics and Computational Mathematics (IAPCM) in Beijing which has a core number of experts conducting technical analysis of on arms control issues such as nuclear test bans and theater missile defenses.

The CAEP includes about 12 institutes spread throughout Mianyang, Sichuan Province. Institute 907 is located in Jiangsu, north of Shanghai. It also has four "key defense science" laboratories and two key laboratories designated with number 863.

Prior to March 1998, the CAEP reported to the Commission of Science, Technology, and Industry for National Defense (COSTIND). It now reports to the General Armaments Department (GAD).

CAEP employs 20,000 employees and 8,000 technical staff (2,000 senior; 2,600 middle; 3,400 other). CAEP oversees over 100 research institutes and 30 workshops.

CAEP conducts research work in: theoretical physics, plasma physics, nuclear physics, explosives/organic chemistry, machine design, computer applications, nuclear equipment/vacuum technology.

CAEP and a number of its subsidiary organizations were listed on the US Department of Commerce's September 2009 "ENTITY LIST", which means that exports to these companies are subject to more restrictive licensing requirements. According to DOC companies on this list "have engaged in activities that could result in an increased risk of the diversion of exported, reexported and transferred (in-country) items to weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs."

CAEP includes the following institutes and departments:

INSTITUTE 905: Known as the "Chinese Sandia." Site of ordinance engineering laboratory where the non-nuclear parts of nuclear weapons are designed.
DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION AND EXCHANGE
DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
INSTITUTE OF SYSTEM ENGINEERING
The following are on the "ENTITY LIST ": (location is Mianyang, Sichuan Province unless otherwise noted)

(SOUTHWEST) INSTITUTE OF APPLIED ELECTRONICS
(SOUTHWEST) INSTITUTE OF CHEMICAL MATERIALS
(SOUTHWEST) INSTITUTE OF ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING
(SOUTHWEST) INSTITUTE OF EXPLOSIVES AND CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
(SOUTHWEST) INSTITUTE OF ENVIRONMENTAL TESTING
(SOUTHWEST) INSTITUTE OF FLUID PHYSICS
(SOUTHWEST) INSTITUTE OF GENERAL DESIGNING AND ASSEMBLY
(SOUTHWEST) INSTITUTE OF MACHINING TECHNOLOGY
(SOUTHWEST) INSTITUTE OF MATERIALS
(SOUTHWEST) INSTITUTE OF NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY
(SOUTHWEST) INSTITUTE OF STRUCTURAL MECHANICS (a.k.a. CAEP's 902 Institute)
RESEARCH AND APPLICATIONS OF SPECIAL MATERIALS FACTORY
SOUTHWEST COMPUTING CENTER
INSTITUTE OF APPLIED PHYSICS AND COMPUTATIONAL MATHEMATICS (IAPCM) (Beijing)
HIGH POWER LASER LABORATORY (Shanghai)

Sources:
[1] Nuclear Weapons Databook, Volume 5, pp. 339, 348
[2] "Nuclear Notebook," The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, May 1993, p. 49
[3] Tracking Nuclear Proliferation, p. 52
[4] Risk Report, November 1995, p. 6.
[5] CAEP's website, www.caep.ac.cn

Updated December 2009

This material is produced independently for NTI by the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of and has not been independently verified by NTI or its directors, officers, employees, agents. Copyright © 2010 by MIIS.