Northwest Institute of Nuclear Technology (NINT)

The Northwest Institute of Nuclear Technology (NINT) provided diagnostic support for China’s nuclear test program. [1] It is now developing a key role for verification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), and has the primary responsibility for China’s field implementation of technologies for the International Monitoring System. [2] NINT Professor Feihong Kuang and Senior Expert Dr. Zhenfu Li are expert members of the Chinese delegation to the CTBTO Working Group’s meetings on verification issues. [3]

NINT is also involved in the research, design and testing of weapons, including high-power microwave weapons. [4] It is listed on the U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security’s Entity List as an organization requiring a license for export for all items in the Export Administration Regulations. [5]

Sources:
[1] Rodney Jones and Mark McDonough, Tracking Nuclear Nonproliferation (Washington, D.C., Carnegie, 1998), p. 65.
[2] Nancy Prindle, “The U.S.-China Lab-to-Lab Technical Exchange Program,” The Nonproliferation Review, Spring-Summer 1998, p. 113.
[3] “Biographical Note: Feihong Kuang,” Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization, www.ctbto.org; “Biographical Note: Zhenfu Li,” Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization, www.ctbto.org.
[4] Mark Stokes, “China’s Strategic Modernization: Implications for the United States,” report distributed by the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College, September 1999, www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil.
[5] Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security, “Supplement No. 4 to Part 744 - ENTITY LIST,” Export Administration Regulations, Updated 15 August 2011.