In China, experts on alert for quake damage to nuclear facilitie

 

 

 

 

China\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s main centers for designing, making and storing nuclear arms lie in the shattered earthquake zone, leading Western experts to look for signs of any damage that might allow radioactivity to escape.

 

 

 

A senior U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the delicacy of the issue, said the United States was using spy satellites and other means to try to monitor the sprawling nuclear plants.

 

 

 

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"There appear to be no immediate concerns,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" the official said.

 

 

 

Nonetheless, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"it\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s potentially a serious issue,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" Hans Kristensen, a nuclear arms expert at the Federation of American Scientists, a private group in Washington, said in an interview.

 

 

 

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Radioactive materials could be released if there\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s damage.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"

 

 

 

Today in Asia - Pacific

 

 

 

Aid pours in, but time runs for China quake survivors

 

 

 

In China, experts on alert for quake damage to nuclear facilities

 

 

 

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China began building the plants in the 1960s, calculating that their remote locations would make them less vulnerable to enemy attack.

 

 

 

China\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s main complex for making nuclear warhead fuel, code named Plant 821, is beside a river in a hilly, forested part of the earthquake zone. It is some 25 kilometers, or 15 miles, northwest of Guangyuan in Sichuan Province. The vast site holds China\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s largest production reactor and factories that mine its spent fuel for plutonium - the main ingredient for modern nuclear arms.

 

 

 

Jeffrey Lewis, an arms control specialist at the New America Foundation, a nonprofit research group in Washington, said the military buildings that make up Plant 821 were probably unusually strong compared with civilian structures.

 

 

 

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"I\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'d rather have been in the reactor building than a grade school\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" when the quake struck, he said. The site\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s various plants \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"were built as military facilities, and so I wouldn\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t be surprised if, by and large, they came through pretty well.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"

 

 

 

Plutonium is a radioactive toxin that can be made into compact nuclear arms that are relatively easy to deliver.

 

 

 

It is unclear if the plutonium-production reactor at Plant 821 has operated recently. Kristensen of the scientists federation said China was expanding its nuclear forces to 240 warheads in its overall stockpile from around 200.

 

 

 

Reactors are usually rigged to shut down in an earthquake, and it is unclear if the Plant 821 reactor could undergo the same kind of disaster that struck the Chernobyl reactor in 1986. It spewed radioactivity across large parts of Russia and Europe.

 

 

 

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"From what I know, they\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'re a really brilliant people and I think they do things the right way,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" said Danny Stillman, a former director of intelligence at Los Alamos National Laboratory and an expert on the Chinese nuclear program because of extensive travels in the 1990s to its secretive sites and bases.

 

 

 

Closer to the epicenter of the quake that struck Monday is Mianyang, a science city whose outskirts house the primary laboratory for the design of Chinese nuclear arms. It is considered the Chinese equal to Los Alamos. Known as the Chinese Academy of Engineering Physics, it too, Stillman said, houses a reactor, though a smaller one meant for research.

 

 

 

In China, the academy leads in the research, development and testing of nuclear weapons and has centers throughout Sichuan Province.

 

 

 

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"I think this is not a no-cost moment for their labs but is not necessarily a human health risk,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" Lewis of the New America Foundation, who visited Mianyang last summer, said of the academy\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s main facilities. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"We should keep in mind that there is certainly stuff out in the hills that might have been more seriously damaged.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" North of the city, for example, is a plant that shapes plutonium into the compact spheres that ignite nuclear weapons.

 

 

 

Nuclear experts said that closer to the epicenter of the earthquake, in rugged hills a two-hour drive west of Mianyang, China runs a highly secretive center that houses a prompt-burst reactor. It mimics the rush of speeding subatomic particles that an exploding atom bomb spews out in its first microseconds.

 

 

 

North, in an even more inaccessible region, nuclear experts said, China maintains a hidden complex of large tunnels in the side of a mountain where it stores nuclear arms. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"It\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s very close to the epicenter,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" said one specialist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because, to the best of his knowledge, the exact location of the secret complex had never been publicly disclosed.

 

 

 

Stillman, the former intelligence chief at Los Alamos, said he had immense regard for the Chinese weapons scientists and assumed that many of their nuclear plants had been built to ride out the pounding of an earthquake or other disasters, natural or man-made.

 

 

专家警告地震对中国核设施的破坏

 

中国的主要设计、制造和贮存核武器的中心就位于这次地震区域。这让西方的核专家担心可能的核物质的泄露，他们在搜寻这方面的信息。

一个美国的高级官员，因为问题的敏感他要求匿名，他们说美国正在通过间谍卫星和其他途径在监视这些四处分布的核设施。

“现在看来没有必要太担心”，这个官员说。

尽管如此，“这依然是个潜在的大问题。”汉斯.克里斯泰森说。汉斯是位于华盛顿的一个私人组织--美国科学家联合会的和问题专家。

“如果核设施遭到破坏，将会有核物质泄露。”

中国在上世纪60年代开始建造这些核工厂，因为四川地处边远，不容易遭到敌人的攻击。

中国主要的建造核弹头的工厂，代号821工厂，就位于地震区域的深山老林的一条小河边。大约在四川广元西北25公里的地方，有中国最大的核反应堆，也是制造钚的工厂，而钚是现代核武器最主要的原料。

杰瑞夫.路易斯是新美国基金会的武器控制专家，新美国基金会是华盛顿的一个非赢利研究机构。他说821工厂的建筑强度不是那些民用建筑所能比拟的。

“我宁愿呆在核反应的房子里也不愿呆在大教室里。”当地震发生时，他说：“既然是个军事设施，能够安然度过地震，并不让人奇怪。”

钚可以用来制作容易发射的小型原子弹。

821工厂的生产钚的反应堆最近不知道有没有工作。科学家联合会的克里斯泰森说中国正将其核弹头的存量从200增加到240个。

核反应堆在地震时通常被匆忙关闭的。不知道821的核反应堆能否抗得住像1986年破坏大部分欧洲和苏联的切尔诺贝利核电站那样的灾难。

在星期一地震时，靠近震中的绵阳市的郊区有中国最主要的设计核武器的实验室。它相当于美国的洛斯阿拉莫斯。绵阳的中国工程物理研究院，也有一个用于研究的小一点的反应堆。

这个研究院领导着中国的核武器的研究开发和试验工作，它的机构遍布四川。

“我认为现在不是考虑中国的实验室的成本问题的时刻，而要考虑人的健康风险。”新美国基金会的路易斯说，他去年夏天访问了绵阳。谈到这些研究院的设施，他说“我们应当意识到那些在大山的里设施有可能会被严重损害。”在绵阳的北方，就有一个钚的切割工厂，钚在这里被切割成小球用来点燃核武器。

核专家说在绵阳以西2小时车程，靠近震中的一个小山里，中国有一个高度机密的prompt-burst反应堆。它可以用来模拟在原子弹爆炸的第一个微秒中的亚原子的高速喷射。

再北方，更加是个禁区，核专家说，那里的大山隧道里有中国的核武库。“它非常靠近震中”，这个专家说，他要求匿名，据他所知，核武库的具体位置一直是个秘密从未被公布过。

斯第尔曼，是洛斯阿拉莫斯的情报人员，他说他非常钦佩中国的武器设计专家，他认为不管是多大的地震或者天灾还是人祸，那些核武器都能安然无事。