To return to the main
Nuclear Exports to China entry, see the
Nuclear Exports to
China
file.
The Sino-Russian Nuclear Analysis Laboratory, located in Harbin, was completed
in May 1992. The facility, which will reportedly supply nuclear analysis
equipment for the Chinese mining and metallurgical industries, includes
a Russian neutron source, neutron detector and fluorescent analysis equipment,
and a Chinese computer system.[1,2] The Chemical Research Institute of
the Far East branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences provided a reported
$50,000 for the facility, while the Technical and Physics Research Institute
of the Heilongjiang Provincial Academy of Sciences contributed $90,000.[3]
In November 1995, an article in the European nuclear trade press reported
that the China Institute of Atomic Energy Agency (CIAE) was planning to
build an experimental 25MWe sodium-cooled fast breeder reactor with Russian
technical assistance.[1] Construction of the reactor, in
Fangshen county near Beijing, was due to begin in October 1997.
Full commercial operation for the reactor is planned for 2003, but the
type and extent of Russian assistance in the design and construction of
this reactor is not known.[2,3]
In November 1994, when reports of large numbers of Russian
specialists working at Chinese military research laboratories began
to surface, a Hong Kong newspaper reported that a secret Sino-Russian nuclear
project was underway in Shenzhen.[1] According to this report, Russian
Minister of Atomic Energy Viktor Mikhailov and First Deputy Minister of
Nuclear Power Engineering Vitaliy Konovalov concluded a secret agreement
on a $10 million joint venture to be called the "China-Russia Nuclear Company"
when they visited Shenzhen in November 1994. The Hong Kong paper quoted
Kong Fandai, president of the company, as saying that three Russian scientists
were already working in Shenzhen and that more Russian specialists would
be needed as the firm entered into production by the end of 1995. Chinese
press reports indicate that sometime before October 1995, Minatom and the
China National Nuclear Industry Corporation (CNNIC) established the Shenzhen
CRN Technology Development Company to "enhance cooperation between the
two countries' nuclear enterprises and research institutes."[2] No further
information on any facility operated by the "China-Russia Nuclear Company"
is available from open sources, and any connection between this facility,
if it in fact exists, and either Shenzhen CRN or the nuclear research facility
at Shenzhen University is unknown.
Page last updated 29 April 1999
For more recent developments,
see the Nuclear Exports to China Developments file.
Comments or questions? Contact Michael Jasinski at MIIS CNS: Michael.Jasinski@miis.edu
This material is produced independently for NTI
by the 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 © 2002 by MIIS.
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