Analysis & Opinions - Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

China Worries About Japanese Plutonium Stocks

| Jun 17, 2014

Recent news reports say that Japan failed to disclose the existence of about 640 kilograms of unused plutonium—enough to make about 80 nuclear bombs—in its annual reports to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in 2012 and 2013. This has raised Chinese concerns about Japan’s plutonium program.

Japanese officials claim that this under-reporting was an honest error of interpretation of the rules, because the material in question was part of the plutonium-uranium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel stored in a reactor that happened to be offline during this period...

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For Academic Citation: Zhang, Hui.“China Worries About Japanese Plutonium Stocks.” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Jun 17, 2014.