Richard C. Johnson, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear and Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Policy, voiced concerns over China's lack of transparency on the construction of new nuclear reactors during an event at the Atlantic Council.

"We are extremely concerned to see, for example, the construction of two fast breeder reactors in China that could create quite a bit of plutonium for use in nuclear weapons", he said. "If they're going to be making this much fissile material, it would be good for them to demonstrate that they're not intending to divert it to military purposes (...), but we haven't seen that out of Beijing".

Following the release of the 2022 US Nuclear Posture Review, he joined Alexandra Bell, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, Verification, and Compliance, and Cindy Lersten, Director of Policy and Strategic Planning at the National Nuclear Security Administration, in a conversation moderated by David Sanger, National Security Correspondent for the New York Times.

The event was hosted by the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security's Forward Defense practice at the Atlantic Council's office in Washington DC, on November 1, 2022.

Watch the full event at: [ Ссылка ]

#china #nuclearweapons

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Driven by our mission of “shaping the global future together,” the Atlantic Council is a nonpartisan organization that galvanizes US leadership and engagement in the world, in partnership with allies and partners, to shape solutions to global challenges.

Find out more about us below or at [ Ссылка ]

Twitter: [ Ссылка ]
Facebook: [ Ссылка ]
LinkedIn: [ Ссылка ]
Instagram: [ Ссылка ]

свернуть