Jiuquan Atomic Energy Complex

Jiuquan Atomic Energy Complex (closed down)

Near Subei Mongolian Autonomous County, Gansu Province (near 94.58E/39.36N). Contains plutonium production, processing, and fabrication facilities. Completed in 1966. Two reprocessing facilities. Chemical separation plant. Military reprocessing facility.

The site is the location for:

NUCLEAR COMPONENT MANUFACTURING PLANT

Nuclear weapon core fabrication and final assembly/dismantlement. Called the "Pantex of China." Assembly of China's first hydrogen bomb. Fabrication of fissile materials (HEU and plutonium) into bomb cores.

Assembly Workshop: Part of the Nuclear Component Manufacturing Plant. Final assembly/dismantlement of nuclear warheads, including non-nuclear components.

URANIUM HEXAFLUORIDE PRODUCTION PLANT

Production of uranium hexafluoride (UF6) since 11/63.

NUCLEAR FUEL PROCESSING PLANT

Converts enriched uranium hexafluoride (UF6) to uranium tetrafluoride (UF4), and eventually to uranium metal.

PLUTONIUM PRODUCTION LINE

Includes: (1) the plutonium production reactor; (2) the plutonium separation (reprocessing) plant, and (3) the plutonium processing plant.

Plutonium Production Reactor (Plant 404): The plutonium production reactor, sometimes called the Subei reactor, was finished and began operation in October 1966. The reactor was possibly re-engineered to a dual-use role during the mid-1980s. The reactor had an initial power of 250 MWth, which was doubled in the early 1980s. By the end of 1991, the reactor produced an estimated 1-2 tons of weapon-grade plutonium.
Plutonium Separation (Reprocessing) Plant: Part of the Plutonium Production Line. Extracted plutonium metal from spent fuel. Used PUREX method. The plant became operational in April 1970.
Plutonium Processing Plant: The plant refined plutonium metal for weapons.

[Sources: China Builds the Bomb, p. 111; Nuclear Weapons Databook, Volume 5, pp. 333, 339, 348; Risk Report, November 1995, p. 3; Tracking Nuclear Proliferation, p. 52; Frans Berkhout, Oleg Bukharin, Harold Feiveson, and Marvin Miller, "A Cutoff In The Production Of Fissile Material," International Security, Winter 1995/95, p. 178; "Nuclear Notebook," The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, May 1993, p. 49; Plutonium and Highly Enriched Uranium 1996, p. 76; Yan Kong, "China's Nuclear Bureaucracy," Jane's Intelligence Review, July 1993, p. 324; Lisbeth Gronlund, David Wright, and Yong Liu, "China And A Fissile Material Production Cut-Off," Survival, Winter 1995-96, p. 151.]

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 © 2007 by MIIS.