 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
Northwest Nuclear Weapons Research and Design Academy (closed down)
OTHER NAMES: Ninth Academy; Qinghai Academy; Koko Nor nuclear weapons center; Northwest Nuclear Weapons Designing Center
Located in Haiyan, Qinghai Province (100.50E/36.58N). Known as the "Los Alamos of China."
Nuclear weapons research and design facility based on Soviet designs. China's first central nuclear weapons design facility, completed in the early 1960s. Replaced the Beijing Nuclear Weapons Research Institute in 1962. Almost all activities have been transferred to the Chinese Academy of Engineering Physics (CAEP) at Mianyang.
In May 1995, China announced the Haiyan facility had been shut down completely. China reportedly closed the facility in 1987. The shutdown could signify the halt of the production of China's first-generation nuclear weapons, and indicate that China's development of second-generation weapons is going well.
Since its 1987 closing, the area around the facility has undergone significant environmental testing. The facility was converted and renamed Xihai Town. The facility has been selected as a destination for package tours, but is still not open to foreigners.
[Sources: Yan Kong, "China's Nuclear Bureaucracy," Jane's Intelligence Review, July 1993, p. 326; "Nuclear Attraction," China Economic Review, April 1997, p. 30; Nuclear Weapons Databook, Volume 5, pp. 338, 340, 348; Tracking Nuclear Proliferation, p. 52; Risk Report, November 1995, p. 4; Shigeo Hiramatsu, Ekonomisuto (Tokyo), 10 October 1995, in FBIS-CHI-95-208, 10 October 1995.]
Last Updated June 1998
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.
