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China’s Commission of Science, Technology, and Industry for National Defense (COSTIND) supervises virtually all of China's military research, development, and production.
COSTIND, by virtue of its role in supervising the China Academy of Engineering Physics (CAEP), also coordinates certain activities with the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), which produces, stores, and controls all fissile material for civilian as well as military applications. Although COSTIND approves licenses for the use of nuclear material for military purposes, these licenses are actually granted by a CNNC bureau. The CNNC is responsible for the fuel cycle, and for the operation of China's civilian nuclear power plants as well as most of the research reactors. It will therefore be involved in Chinese positions on a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty (FMCT). Known departments under the CNNC include the Bureau of Nuclear Fuels (which manages nuclear material control), the Bureau of International Cooperation, the Bureau of Security, the Bureau of Nuclear Power (which operates nuclear power stations), and the Bureau of Science and Technology (responsible for non-military nuclear research and development). The four principal research organizations under the Bureau of Science and Technology are the China Institute of Atomic Energy (CIAE), the Beijing Institute of Nuclear Engineering (BINE), the Shanghai Reactor Engineering Research and Design Academy, and the Southwest Reactor Design Academy. Because CNNC is both a government agency and a commercial company, in its government role, which includes compliance with NPT commitments and enforcement of export controls, it is often referred to as the China Atomic Energy Authority (CAEA). Also under the authority of COSTIND, arms control experts from the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) and the Chinese Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT) follow arms control issues that affect China’s development of new delivery systems.
A separate government agency, the China National Nuclear Safety Administration (NNSA) is subordinate to the State Science and Technology Commission (SSTC). This organization is a rough equivalent of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). It develops nuclear safety regulations and standards, grants nuclear reactor operator licenses, and reviews nuclear safety licenses. It also approves licenses for non-military uses of nuclear material; however, these licenses are actually granted by the Bureau of Nuclear Control within the CNNC.
The China Academy of Engineering Physics (CAEP) is an organization composed of twelve institutes, formerly independent of each other, each of which specializes in a different aspect of nuclear weapons research and development. Some departments now also pursue non-weapons related research. This academy is the Chinese equivalent of US national laboratories at Livermore, Sandia, and Los Alamos, plus the Nevada Test Site and the Pantex Plant. The Academy employs 20,000 people, 8,000 of which are technical staff. The academy is organized into program, or staff, functions and operational, or line units that conduct the research and technical work. It has three central offices that oversee the work of the institutes:
- defense nuclear technology, aimed at assuring effectiveness of China's nuclear deterrent and solving technical issues related to nuclear arms control;
- applied sciences and high technology, including high temperature and high pressure plasma physics and inertial confinement fusion (ICF), pulsed power technology and accelerator, shock wave and detonation physics, engineering and material science, chemistry and chemical engineering, electronic and optoelectronics, computational physics and computer applications.
- civilian technology
Technical experts at the CAEP, mostly civilian scientists and engineers, clearly have a role in formulating Chinese positions on arms control and non-proliferation, and the COSTIND itself sends technical experts to represent Chinese positions at the Conference on Disarmament (CD) in Geneva. In the past, CAEP scientists have appeared less informed about foreign policy context for their work; they focus almost exclusively on the technical aspects of arms control. However this is changing, particularly in light of the recent effort to send young CAEP scientists to the United States for fellowships at arms control NGOs. The ten institutes of the CAEP umbrella are:
- Fluid physics
- Nuclear physics and chemistry
- Chemical materials
- Structure mechanics
- Electronic engineering
- Machinery technology
- Applied electronics
- Computer application
- Shanghai Institute of Laser and Plasma Physics
- Institute of Applied Physics and Computational Mathematics (IAPCM)
Most of these institutes are located in or near Mianyang, north of Chengdu in Sichuan Province. Mianyang is often referred to as "science city" because of the growth in high tech non-military industry there and because of the effort on the part of CAEP to diversify into commercial R&D activities.
IAPCM, located in Beijing, established a Program on Science and National Security Studies in 1989. In 1995 the CAEP began a Program for Verification Technology Studies, which will focus on verification and other technical issues related to arms control.
Until 1996, scientists who worked at the Lop Nor Nuclear Weapons Test Base and its supporting research institute, the Northwest Institute of Nuclear Technology (NINT), both of which also report to the COSTIND, have also been called upon to provide technical expertise regarding arms control and verification procedures. The NINT certifies that military specifications have been met, a function performed by the US national laboratories. Now that China has entered a nuclear testing moratorium, these institutes have changed their foci. The NINT, for example, is now working on technical issues relevant to CTBT verification. Labs in some of the CAEP institutes are co-managed with the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Chinese Arms Control Organizations: A Basic Primer
Originally compiled by:
Wendy Frieman
Director of the Asia Technology Project
Science Applications International Corporation
Revised and updated by:
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.
