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China's Nuclear Exports and Assistance to Algeria
Chinese nuclear trade and cooperation with Algeria created significant controversy, particularly with the United States, in the early 1990s. In 1991, the CIA reported that China was assisting Algeria with technology on how to design nuclear-capable warheads deliverable by Algeria's Scud-B missile systems. Also, in January 1991 US satellites detected the existence of a Chinese-supplied 15 megawatt nuclear reactor at Ain Oussera, south of Algiers, built in the late 1980s. The discovery of this transfer created some nonproliferation concern, particularly given that the transfer had taken place in secret. China, however, declared that its nuclear cooperation with Algeria was entirely for peaceful purposes, and Algeria had pledged to China that the reactor would be used only for peaceful purposes. In response to US concern, China and Algeria agreed to provide the United States with the technical specifications for the reactor, and Algeria signed a safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) which allowed inspections of the reactor. In 1995, US analysts said that the reactor produced much less weapons-grade plutonium than had been initially believed, somewhat muting nonproliferation concerns. In September 1996, China and Algeria reportedly ready to begin the next phase of their nuclear cooperation, adding hot cell facilities and an isotope production complex to the reactor site. Additionally, Algeria pledged that it would safeguard all of its facilities and begin implementing a monitoring program to detect any possible clandestine efforts to reprocess plutonium from the reactor. China's nuclear assistance to Algeria is still occasionally a source of concern in the West, but the concern has subsided since the early 1990s.
For more in-depth information on open-source reports of Chinese exports and assistance, please consult the CNS Nuclear Abstracts database.
[CHINA'S NUCLEAR EXPORTS AND ASSISTANCE TO ALGERIA - STATEMENTS AND DEVELOPMENTS]
[CHINA'S NUCLEAR EXPORTS AND ASSISTANCE TO THE MIDDLE EAST]
[CHINA AND THE INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY (IAEA)]
Last Updated June 1998
This
material is produced independently for NTI by the James Martin
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