Russia confirms enriched uranium supplies to China

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Russia has confirmed it is supplying highly enriched uranium to two Chinese reactors.

TVEL, a subsidiary of the state atomic energy corporation Rosatom, will be allowed to export the fuel to China over the next three years, Sputnik News reported on Wednesday.

It will be sent to the CFR-600 power plant at Xiapu in the southeastern province of Fujian. The project has two fast-neutron reactors, both with the capacity to produce 600 megawatts of power, the first of which is expected to connect to the grid later this year.

World Nuclear News reported in January that three batches of fuel had been transported by rail from TVEL to the plant since September.

However, Sputnik’s report revealed that the supplies are highly enriched uranium, with a concentration of just over 30 per cent of uranium-235 – which is found in less than 1 per cent of naturally occurring uranium.

Fast reactors require a concentration of over 20 per cent of uranium-235, while nuclear weapons usually contain about 90 per cent uranium-235 and plutonium.

The United States has become increasingly concerned about nuclear energy cooperation between China and Russia.

In a letter sent to US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan in March, leading Republicans in Congress said the cooperation was “a direct threat to US security” and called on the Biden administration to “stop Rosatom and the PRC’s dangerous cooperation”.

John Plumb, the Pentagon’s assistant secretary for space policy, told a hearing the same month that “it was very troubling to see Russia and China cooperating on this”.

He also warned that Russia’s supply of enriched uranium could lead to China expanding its nuclear arsenal, according to Nikkei.

The Chinese foreign ministry has previously said the two countries carry out “normal civilian nuclear cooperation within the framework of international obligations”.

The fast reactors are part of China’s plan to develop a closed nuclear fuel cycle, which reprocesses the remaining uranium and plutonium isotopes in spent fuel, as a way of reducing the risk of shortages.

During Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Russia in March, Rosatom and China’s Atomic Energy Authority signed a comprehensive long-term cooperation deal on fast-neutron reactors and closed nuclear fuel cycle development.

In fast reactors, uranium-238 – the most commonly found isotope – can be used to generate plutonium-239, which can in
turn be used as nuclear fuel or in nuclear weapons.

“But the risk is it uses liquid sodium as the reactor coolant. Liquid sodium easily catches fire both in air and in water, and it can leak easily,” Tian Li, vice-president of the nuclear power branch of the China Electric Power Promotion Council, said.

He added that the Fujian reactor was built to generate electricity, and it would not be used for military purposes.

(South China Morning Post)