Russia Is Feeding the Red Dragon Weapons-Grade Plutonium

In the quid pro quo world of geopolitics, Russia is sharing its large inventory of weapons-grade plutonium with the People’s Republic of China (PRC), helping the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to increase the number of its nuclear weapons launchers and warheads. Nuclear nations, particularly superpower wannabes, need highly refined plutonium for hydrogen bombs. China – with roughly 400 nuclear warheads – is working toward parity with the United States and Russia, hoping to acquire as many as 1,500 by 2035. Now the Red Dragon is closer to that goal.

Russian Company Conduit for Plutonium to China

More troubling is that the Russian global enterprise Rosatom is the conduit through which Beijing can produce greater quantities of plutonium. In their letter to President Joe Biden’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL); chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX); and chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Rep. Michael Turner (R-OH), stated:

“Rosatom now appears to be supplying equipment and highly enriched uranium (HEU) for the PRC’s CFR-600 sodium-cooled fast breeder nuclear reactors, which will produce plutonium, fissile material critical to the PRC’s nuclear breakout. Russian deliveries of HEU to the PRC are slated to begin this year. The Department of Defense’s 2022 report to Congress on the Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China noted the key role that increased weapons-grade plutonium production is key to the PRC nuclear program … ”

Furthermore, the congressional leaders wrote that Rosatom represents a double threat to the United States and the rest of the West. Not only does the revenue from Rosatom’s global enterprise and the CCP’s nuclear weapons market provide weapons for the Kremlin’s unprovoked war against Ukraine but also increases China’s nuclear weapons capacity in a direct threat to the United States. As explained in the letter, “Despite these malign activities, Rosatom’s position in the global market is only getting stronger … Putin uses these funds to fund his war machine and keep his favorite weapons programs on schedule.”

Russia and China Getting Too Close for Comfort

The amount of nuclear fuel provided to the PRC by Rosatom is not trivial. “China is thought to have already purchased more than 25,000 kilograms (55,000 pounds) of fuel for a price of $384 million since shipments from Russia began arriving in September,” Patty-Jane Geller and Jack Kraemer reported in the Washington Examiner. As they explained, the transfer of nuclear materials further validates the “no limits” nature of the Moscow-Beijing relationship. What should worry national security policymakers is the PRC can produce nuclear weapons at scale. The United States has no such “capability to produce the cores of weapons-grade plutonium needed for new nuclear weapons.”

The warming relationship between Russia and China is relatively recent, but Beijing’s buildup of atomic warheads has been expanding for some time. Defense Department reports on China have warned the Biden administration about the nuclear threat, and the leaders of the US Indo-Pacific Command and the Strategic Command have been vocal in encouraging the Biden national security team to modernize and bolster US nuclear capability.

At a minimum, the United States should increase the economic sanctions on Rosatom by a significant amount. The global company’s support for the Chinese nuclear program and its enabling of Russia’s assault on Ukraine should be made cripplingly costly. The Chinese and Russians are out to topple America as a superpower. The Biden administration should not make it easy.

The views expressed are those of the author and not of any other affiliation.