French and Chinese Nuclear Weapon Testing

1 CEA/DAM, Les Atolls de Mururoa et de Fangataufa, Volume I: Géologie-Pétrologie-Hydrogéologie, Edification et évolution des édifices (1993), Volume II: Les Expérimentations Nucléaires, Effets mécaniques, lumino-thermigues, électromagnétiques (1995), Volume III: Le Milieu Vivant et son Evolution (1995). Volume IV had not been published as of the end of 1995. See also Jacques Isnard, `Paris Publie pour la Première Fois la Liste de ses Essais Nucléaires,' Le Monde, 2 August 1995, p. 3. It should be noted that the volumes do not discuss any aspect of weapon development.O

2 More extensive treatment and background can be found in Robert S. Norris, Andrew S. Burrows, & Richard W. Fieldhouse, British, French, and Chinese Nuclear Weapons (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1994), Chapters 4 and 5.

3 Currently there are approximately 4200 inhabitants within a 1000-kilometer radius of Mururoa. French Embassy Press and Information Service, Washington, DC, News From France, 15 September 1995, p. 2.

4 The French used Panama as a transit point, and in recognition President François Mitterrand bestowed the Legion of Honor on General Manuel Noriega in 1987. French aircraft also flew across US territory, though after 1987 the US Congress banned flights carrying plutonium components. William Drozdiak & R. Jeffrey Smith, `French Nuclear Program Closely Tied to US', Washington Post, 19 September 1995, p. A1.

5 Although there was a 25-km strip of land available for the vertical testing shafts, each shaft had to be separated by a distance of 400-1,000 meters (depending on the yield of the device), to allow for the expanse of rock fractured with each test. According to official estimates, a `high'-yield test 900 meters underground results in a 220-meter fracture radius, a 50-meter cavity radius, and a chimney height of 300 meters. French Minister of Foreign Affairs/Minister of Defense, Les Essais Nucléaires Français (Brétigny-sur-Orge: S.ET.A.M.C.A., circa 1986), graph no. 6.

6 CEA, Rapport Annuel 1981 (Paris: CEA, 1982), p. 51.

7 The French do not get as much information from each test as do the Americans, in part because the useful space inside the canister is less. The canister has thick steel walls that are needed to prevent extreme water pressure. R.L. Garwin, R.E. Kidder, & C.E. Paine, A Report on Discussions Regarding the Need for Nuclear Test Explosions to Maintain French Nuclear Weapons Under a Comprehensive Test Ban (Washington, DC: Federation of American Scientists and Natural Resources Defense Council, January 1995), p. 14.

8 CIA, French Underground Nuclear Testing: Environmentally Safe and Likely to Continue (partially declassified and released under the FOIA), May 1985, p. 3. The question of the impact of French testing on the environment is addressed at great length in Volume III of the recently released volumes. See note 1.

9 CEA, Rapport Annuel 1983 (Paris: CEA, 1984), pp. 73-74.

10 The entry into service of this barge at Mururoa lagoon has permitted all tests to be conducted in the zone centrale. CEA, Rapport Annuel 1986, p. 20.

11 From 1980-1984, 62% of the 92 US underground tests were at yields of less than 20 Kt. Thomas B. Cochran, et al., Unannounced US Nuclear Weapons Tests, 1980-1984, Nuclear Weapons Databook Working Paper, no. 86-1 (Washington, DC: NRDC, January 1986).

12 According to General Mermet, the former Director of DIRCEN. Jacques Isnard, `L'Enjeu de l'Indépendance Nationale', Le Monde, 25 October 1985, p. 32.

13 The USA has conducted nearly 900 weapons-related tests, of a total of 1054, and has either partially developed or deployed about 85 warhead types.

14 France-2 Television Network, 14 July 1995, translated in FBIS-WEU-95-136, 17 July 1995, pp. 14-18. On the previous day, before the French Senate President Chirac reviewed the technical reasons. Le Monde, 14 July 1995. A fuller treatment was provided by the Ministry of Defense: The French Series of Tests: Reasons, Objectives and Features, 19 September 1995.

15 Paul Quilès (Defense Minister), speech before the Institute of Higher National Defence Studies (IHEDN), 12 November 1985.

16 René Galy-Dejean, et al., Nuclear Test Simulation, Fact Finding Report No. 847, Defense Committee, The National Assembly of the French Republic, 15 December, 1993, p. 38.

17 For purposes of penetrating Moscow's ABM system. CEA, Annual Report 1992, p. 32.

18 CEA, Rapport Annuel 1989, p. 53. The weight of the TN 71 is estimated at 175 kg and the TN 75 warhead at about 100 kg.

19 `Q&A: Questioning Paris's Rationale for Nuclear Testing', International Herald Tribune, 17 July 1995, p. 2.

20 Donald Mackenzie, `The Influence of the Los Alamos and Livermore National Laboratories on the Development of Supercomputing,' Annals of the History of Computing, vol 13, no 2, 1991, pp. 179-201; Francis H. Harlow & N. Metropolis, `Computing and Computers: Weapons Simulation Leads to the Computer Era,' Los Alamos Science, Winter/Spring 1983. pp. 132-141; Department of Energy, The Need for Supercomputers in Nuclear Weapons Design, January 1986.

21 At Sandia probably the world's fastest parallel processing computer is scheduled to be brought on line in 1996. It will have peak performance of up to 1.8-trillion floating point operations per second; its primary use will be to simulate nuclear weapons tests. Aviation Week & Space Technology, 13 November 1995, p. 13.

22 Garwin, Kidder, & Paine, `A Report', p. 16 and Appendix B.

23 France-2 Television Network, 14 July 1995, translated in FBIS-WEU-95-136, 17 July 1995, pp. 15. President Mitterrand, no doubt faced with the same evidence, chose not to resume testing. This underscores the fact that several non-technical factors also contributed to Chirac's decision to resume testing.

24 See also comments by Jacques Bouchard, director of the Division of Military Application/CEA. Jean de Galard, `Des Avis d'Experts sur les Essais Nucleaires', Air & Cosmos, 23 June 1995, p. 55.

25 More extensive treatment and background can be found in Norris, et al., British, French, and Chinese Nuclear Weapons, Chapters 6 and 7; and China Today: Defence Science and Technology (Beijing: National Defence Industry Press, 1993), volume 1, pp. 205-255.

26 Guo Cheng, `A Visit to Lop Nor Nuclear Testing Ground', Zhongguo Xinwen She, translated in JPRS TND-84-027, 2 November 1984, pp. 4-5.

27 Vipin Gupta, `Locating Nuclear Explosions at the Chinese Test Site near Lop Nor', Science & Global Security, 1995, vol. 5, pp. 205-244.

28 Li Jue, et al., China Today: Nuclear Industry, partially translated in Joint Publications Research Service, JPRS Report: Science & Technology, China, JPRS-CST-88-008, 26 April 1988.

29 Chinese Military Encyclopedia (Zhongguo Junshi Baike Quanshu), National Defense Science, Technology, and Industry Commission, Science and Technology Department, December 1990, pp. 157-159. Protions of the book are translated in JPRS-CST-91-023, 14 November 1991, pp.4-20

30 China Today: Nuclear Industry, JPRS-CST-88-008, 26 April 1988, p. 44.

31 Chinese Military Encyclopedia, p. 164.

32 Ibid., pp. 159-161.

33 Ibid., p. 162.

34 The rate of testing is still modest, with only nine tests in the six years, 1990-1995. Many observers predict two or three tests in 1996. China has said it will stop testing when a CTB enters into force, leaving further opportunities to test after signing.

35 John C. Hopkins and Weixing Hu, Strategic Views from the Second Tier: The Nuclear Weapons Policies of France, Britain, and China (La Jolla, CA: University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, 1994); Bruce D. Larkin, Nuclear Designs: Great Britain, France, and China in the Global Governance of Nuclear Arms (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books, 1996); Col. John Caldwell, USMC, and Alexander T. Lennon, `China's Nuclear Modernization Program', Strategic Review, Fall 1995, pp. 27-37; Banning N. Garrett & Bonnie S. Glaser, `Chinese Perspectives on Nuclear Arms Control', International Security, vol. 20, no. 3 (Winter 1995/96), pp. 43-78.

36 Alastair Iain Johnston, `China's New “Old Thinking”: The Concept of Limited Deterrence', International Security, vol.20, no.3 (Winter 1995/96), pp. 5-42.

37 The most modern US designs incorporate insensitive high explosive (IHE), fire-resistant pits, and the enhanced nuclear detonation safety system. In conversations with Chinese scientists we are led to believe that they will try to incorporate IHE into future designs.

38 Uli Schmetzer, `China Successfully Test-fires Mobile ICBM', Chicago Tribune, 1 June 1995, p.4; Bill Gertz, `China Tests Nuke From Off a Truck', Washington Times, 1 June 1995, p.15. Mobility enhances survivability, a key goal of any military force.

39 Tim Weiner, `US Suspects India Prepares to Conduct Nuclear Test', New York Times, 15 December 1995, p. A9.