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Research Shows China Has Created A Prototype Nuclear Reactor To Fuel Aircraft Carriers

Fuel Aircraft Carriers

Based on a new analysis of satellite imagery and Chinese government documents delivered to The Associated Press, China has built a land-based prototype nuclear reactor for an enormous surface warship, the clearest indication yet that the country is moving closer to producing its first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.

The discovery was made by researchers at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in California, who were looking into a mountain location outside of Leshan in the Sichuan province of southwest China where they believed, China was constructing a reactor to produce tritium or plutonium for use in weapons.

Rather, they came to the conclusion that China was constructing a huge warship’s prototype reactor. The Longwei, or Dragon Might, Project is the name given to the project in Leshan; in documents, it is also known as the Nuclear Power Development Project.

Response requests were not answered by China’s Foreign Affairs or Defense Ministries.

They came to the conclusion that a prototype reactor for naval propulsion was being built in the mountains of Mucheng township, about 70 miles southwest of Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan, based on satellite images and publicly available documents such as project tenders, personnel files, environmental impact studies, and even a citizen’s complaint about noisy construction and excessive dust.

According to the analysis, the generator, which procurement documents show will soon be operational, is located in a new facility called Base 909 that was constructed on the site and houses six additional reactors that are either operational, decommissioned, or in the process of being built. The NPIC, a division of the CNNC, is in charge of the site and is responsible for reactor engineering testing and research.

In many ways, nevertheless, the Chinese military falls short of the US military. Among other benefits, the US presently possesses 11 nuclear-powered carriers that enable it to maintain numerous strike groups deployed globally, including in the Indo-Pacific, at all times.

However, China’s rapid fleet modernization, including the development and building of aircraft carriers, is causing the Pentagon to become more and more anxious.