The Biden administration has strengthened controls on the export of materials and components necessary for nuclear power plants to China, claiming this will ensure these items are used solely for peaceful purposes and not for the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
These measures are one of the latest signs of tensions in China-U.S. relations, with conflicts arising over espionage allegations, human rights issues, China's industrial policy, and the U.S. ban on exporting advanced technology.
A branch of the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), now requires exporters to obtain specific licenses to export certain generators, containers, and software used in Chinese nuclear power plants.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), responsible for nuclear safety, also requires exporters to obtain specific licenses to export special nuclear materials and source materials.
This includes various types of uranium and deuterium, an isotope of hydrogen, which in large quantities can be used to manufacture tritium in reactors, a component of nuclear weapons.
The NRC states that it is necessary for the U.S. government to further protect national security interests and strengthen collective defense and security. An official stated these changes are due to the general policy towards China.
An NRC spokesperson said that the efforts were not due to actions by either exporters or China, but are an "effort" by the U.S. government to more closely regulate certain exports to China.
A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy, Liu Pengyu, did not respond to specifics of the regulations but stated that China firmly upholds the international non-proliferation regime and fulfills its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. He mentioned that China opposes placing geopolitical interests above nuclear non-proliferation efforts.
Few exporters use general licenses to export these materials to China, so the NRC's actions will not affect a significant number of entities or the quantity of materials. There have been two instances of exporting controlled nuclear materials to China under a general license in the past year.
Analyst Edwin Lyman stated that these changes are more symbolic than substantial and expressed skepticism about whether China's nuclear weapons program would be substantively affected. Another analyst mentioned that the government is likely monitoring the risk of weapons development.
The Pentagon pointed out at the end of last year that China's nuclear arsenal currently stands at 400 warheads, and if China continues at its current construction pace, it could increase to 1500 by 2035.
Henry Sokolski, the Executive Director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, said that the regulation clearly indicates that it's no longer safe to assume any of China's nuclear power plants are purely peaceful.
The American company Westinghouse owns four AP1000 reactors in China. Due to proliferation concerns, the Trump administration imposed restrictions in 2018 on exporting newer nuclear reactor technologies than the AP1000.
