China’s fast nuclear reactors are crucial. If expansion continues at its current pace, China could field a stockpile of around 1,500 nuclear warheads by 2035.
Among the various agreements of collaboration between the presidents of Russia and China, Putin and Xi, there is one that concerns nuclear energy. In particular, the so-called breeder or fast neutron reactors. In most nuclear reactors the neutrons (the "seeds" contained in the nucleus of the atom) play the role of "projectiles", which break the nucleus of the uranium atom, producing lighter nuclei and releasing a mass, which is converted into energy. This is fission.
The neutron is a neutral particle which has the advantage of being able to penetrate atoms and nuclei without undergoing electrical repulsion. In nuclear fission uranium is mainly used: a uranium nucleus has 143 neutrons, in a ton we find 7 kg in the case of uranium 235. The other type of uranium, called natural ( 238) has three more neutrons and in a ton we find 993 kg.
Breeder reactors, also called fast neutron reactors, use 104, which is "a fertile core". They are called breeders because they use fertile material (uranium 238) producing more fissile material (plutonium 239), suitable for the construction of nuclear bombs. They use liquid sodium metal as a coolant which does not slow down neutrons like water or gas.
In the Chinese province of Fujian China is constructing two breeder reactors. Reactors that have an electrical power of 600,000 kW, capable of producing up to 200 kg of plutonium enough for 50 nuclear warheads. In Nagasaki a plutonium 239 bomb weighing 6.4 kg was dropped, while in Hiroshima the bomb was uranium 235 and weighing 60 kg.
China stopped voluntarily disclosing its civilian plutonium stockpiles to the International Atomic Energy Agency 5 years ago.
US Secretary Blinken said he was concerned about the Russian-Chinese Agreement considering that "Xi and Putin have spoken of a partnership without limits". Russia’s Rosatom State Nuclear Energy last December supplied 25 tons of enriched uranium to China for the CFR.600 reactor. The 2022 Pentagon report to Congress estimated that by 2030 China’s nuclear stockpiles "will have approximately 1,000 operational nuclear warheads, most of which will be deployed on systems capable of reaching the continental United States".
If expansion continues at its current pace, the Pentagon has predicted, China could deploy a stockpile of about 1,500 nuclear warheads by 2035. However, the entire Pacific remains the subject of worried observation.
China considers the new Aukus alliance, signed by Great Britain and Australia, an act hostile to the Chinese people. The agreement provides for the supply of 8 nuclear submarines. Through the newspaper Global Times the Chinese have declared that they will regard Australia as a nuclear state allied with the USA. Finally, China is testing the commercial feasibility of thorium nuclear reactors, designed by our Carlo Rubbia thirty years ago. Thorium is weakly radioactive and is found in rocks. The thorium reactor uses molten salt instead of water and generates less waste than uranium.
Original article published on Money.it Italy 2023-03-29 17:43:13. Original title: Reattori nucleari veloci: perché è cruciale l’accordo Russia-Cina
