http://www.greenpeace.org/~comms/rw/cbrief.html (Einblicke ins Internet, 10/1995)China has used its 42 nuclear tests since 1964 to develop the world's fourth largest nuclear weapons arsenal, (the UK has less). It includes approximately 450 nuclear weapons of at least five different types, divided between 300 strategic weapons (on land based missiles, bombers, and submarine launched missiles), and perhaps 150 tactical (artillery shells and atomic demolition munitions). Together they have a cumulative yield of 250 megatons or around 16,000 Hiroshima bombs.
China's last test was on 15th May 1995 at the Lop Nor nuclear test site. The detonation came three days after the end of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review & Extension Conference, where it alone amongst nations supported the right under article V to conduct peaceful nuclear explosions. China claims it does not have the computer technology to undertake lab tests and that it needs to test 'in the field'. It should be noted that China (along with France) is not a signtory to the Partial Test Ban Treaty.
Testing takes place at the Lop Nor site, approximately 265 kilometres south- east of Urumqi in the Xinjian region (due west of Beijing, due north of Kathmandu). The Xinjian region is home to the Uighur people, and China has never allowed any form of independent or outside assessment of the environmental or health impacts of its nuclear testing programme. Since testing began in 1964, China has conducted one test on average every 284 days.
China's current testing programme is thought to involve warheads for two new missile systems, one for deployment in the late 1990s, and one around 2010. The latter may carry several warheads. China is also developing a new sea-launched ballistic missile (JL-2) for deployment on its second generation strategic nuclear-powered submarine. In May of this year China also tested a new ballistic missile with a range of 2,000 kilometres.
The chief design laboratory for Chinese nuclear weapons is the Ninth Academy at Mianyang (Sichuan) or the Chinese Academy of Engineering Physics (CAEP). Plutonium production for weapons purposes, which has taken place at two reactors, in Jiuquan (Gansu) and Guangyuan (Sichuan), reportedly ceased in 1991. However a new plutonium facility is scheduled to open in the mid-1990s.
China has said it plans four or five more nuclear tests during 1995. These tests are central to the qualitative development of new systems, rather than the quantitative deployment of a larger number of systems. Chinese nuclear strategy is currently based upon the ability to retaliate if attacked with nuclear weapons. Land-based systems remain central, improvements in accuracy, range, guidance and control. Taiwan and Japan increasingly dominate strategic thinking.
A book released by International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (1) has given the following amounts of radioactivity as having been released from Lop Nor.
The total amount of plutonium-239 released as result is estimated at 3,300 curies, approximately 48 kilograms in weight (see 2 for estimates). One millionth of a gram of plutonium-239, if inhaled can cause cancer. The amount of plutonium-239 still contained within the Lop Nor site is estimated by IPPNW (1) as 1,800 curies (25 kilograms).
A further 2 million curies of caesium-137 and 1.3 million curies of strontium-90 have also been released into the atmosphere. The radioactive half-life of these materials are 30 and 29 years respectively. Caesium-137 concentrates in muscle tissue, but normally passes out of the body in 2 years. Strontium-90, however, attaches to the bones and thus stays in the body giving radiation doses over a longer period of time. The above figures are exclusive of the shorter lived fission products, such as iodine-131, which has a radioactive half-life of 8 days, which would have also been released.
The Chinese nuclear test site is at Lop Nor in the western province of Xin Jiang. Since conducting the first test there on October 16th, 1964, China has exploded (42??) nuclear bombs: 23 in the atmosphere (ceased in 1980); 19 underground (since 1969) plus 3 unverified seismic events suspected to have been nuclear explosions. China's last atmospheric tst was on 16th October 1980.
month-day
1964 atmospheric 20 kilotonnes 10-16
1965 atmospheric 40 kt 5-14
1966 atmospheric 200 kt 5-9
atmospheric 20 kt 10-27
atmospheric 100?-500 kt* 11-28
1967 atmospheric 3,000 kt (first H-bomb) 6-17
atmospheric 15-20 kt 12-24
1968 atmospheric 3,000 kt 12-27
1969 underground 25 kt 9-23
atmospheric 3,000 kt 9-29
1970 atmospheric 20 kt 10-14
1971 atmospheric 15 kt 11-18
1972 atmospheric 8-20 kt* 1-7
atmospheric 150-200 kt* 3-18
1973 atmospheric 2,000-3,000 kt 6-27
1974 atmospheric 200-1,000 kt 6-17
1975 underground 10 kt 10-27
1976 atmospheric 10 kt 1-23
atmospheric 200 kt 9-26
underground 10-20 kt 10-17
atmospheric 4,000 kt 11-17
1977 atmospheric 20 kt 9-17
1978 atmospheric 6-20 kt 3-15
underground 20 kt 10-14
atmospheric 6-20 kt 12-14
1979 atmospheric size unknown 9-13
1980 atmospheric size unknown* (200 KT - 1 MT) 10-16
1982 underground size unknown* (3-15 KT) 10-5
1983 underground size unknown 5-4
underground 20-100 kt 10-6
1984 underground 15-70 kt 10-3
underground 5-50 kt 12-19
1987 underground 150 kt 6-5
1988 underground 1-20 kt 9-29
1990 underground