US has made serious allegations regarding China’s nuclear program. The US claims that China conducted a secret, low-yield nuclear test in Lop Nur, Xinjiang on June 22, 2020. According to US officials, the blast occurred underground and its magnitude was 2.75. They estimate that the yield of the blast was equivalent to 5 to 10 tons of TNT.
The yield of the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan in 1945 was 15 kilotons. The US claims that China’s test was about 1,500 times smaller than the Hiroshima bomb. Despite their small size, such low-yield nuclear bombs can cause significant damage to a small area. During the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Yu said that China is rapidly increasing its nuclear stockpile.
How many weapons will China have by 2030? The US claims that China can accumulate enough fissile material to make more than 1,000 nuclear warheads by 2030. Christopher Yu also said that China could reach nuclear parity in the next four to five years, although he did not specify which country he meant by parity. China has rejected these allegations.
China’s Ambassador to the United Nations Shen Jian said that the US allegations are baseless. He said that China will not join the nuclear arms race with any country and its stockpile of nuclear weapons is not as big as the US and Russia. The New START treaty between the US and Russia expired on February 5. This was the last major nuclear arms control treaty between the two countries. Under the treaty, both countries were limited to 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads. However, both countries together have more than 10,000 nuclear weapons.
How dangerous are small nuclear blasts?
According to a scientific study conducted in Cambridge, a nuclear explosion of one ton can destroy an area of about 150 meters. A nuclear explosion of 1 kiloton can produce nuclear radiation up to 3,000 rads up to 440 meters, which is very dangerous. Therefore, it is considered necessary to stay at least 1 to 2 kilometers away from a 5 kiloton blast to be safe.