CHINA'S LATEST ATOM TEST IS BELIEVED A FAILURE

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP70B00338R000300080045-8
Release Decision: 
RIFPUB
Original Classification: 
K
Document Page Count: 
1
Document Creation Date: 
December 19, 2016
Document Release Date: 
January 9, 2006
Sequence Number: 
45
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
December 4, 1967
Content Type: 
NSPR
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PDF icon CIA-RDP70B00338R000300080045-8.pdf71.7 KB
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QC s 4()Ccc,-7 Approved For Release 2006/01/30 : CIA-RDP70BOO338ROO0300080045-8 China's Latest Atom Testl elieved a Failure By JOHN W. FINNEY Speclal to The New York Time? WASHINGTON, Jan. 3-Pre- liminary analysis by the United States indicated today that the latest Chinese Communist nu- t U.S. Notes a Discrepancy Between H-Bomb Material and the Low Yield c ear test was a failure. uranium (uranium-235), which The indications were that is used as a fission trigger China was attempting to to set off a thermonuclear ex achieve a thermonuclear ex- plosion. It contained lithium-6, plosion in the test conducted la light metal used in com- Two pieces of admittedly circumstantial evidence made public today by the Atomic Energy Commission pointed to a failure. One was the presence of thermonuclear material in the device; the other was the small explosive force of the detonation, indicating that the thermonuclear material had not ignited. The apparent failure would help explain Peking's unusual and, to United States officials, perplexing silence about the latest nuclear test. In contrast to the earlier ex- plosions, which were widely publicized by China, Peking has made no public mention of the latest test, the seventh in a series since October, 1964. Speculation that the test was a failure seemed to be borne out by chemical analysis of radioactive debris collected by United States high-altitude planes In the Far East and analyzed in a secret laboratory at Travis Air Force Base in California. The Atomic Energy Cotnmis- sion announced today that pre- liminary analysis of the debris indicated that the Chinese de- vice contained all the ingredi ents for a thermonuclear ex-1 plosion. It contained enriched pounds with hydrogen as the fusionable material for a thermon clear explosion. And it contained natural uranium (uranium 238), which Is made to fission by the neutrons given 20,000 tons of TNT, or roughly the yield of a fission trigger. If thermonuclear material had been ignited, the force would' have been at least hundredsl and more likely several thou sands of kilotons. An A.E.C. spokesman ac- knowledged, in response to in- quiries, that "it was possible the test was a dud." But he declined to elaborate. It was speculated that in the latest test China attempted to improve the efficiency and weight of the device, by in- cluding less thermonuclear ma- terial and reducing the size of the fission trigger. The Chinese may have gone too far in reducing the amounts, with the result that the device was blown apart before the fusion reaction could occur. The components must be put together in such a man- ner that the thermonuclear ma- terials will ignite in the micro- second before the entire device is blown apart by the explo-I sive force of the fission trigger.! off by a thermonuclear raec- tion, thus producing a triple stage, or fission-fusion-fission, explosion. It thus appeared that China was attempting to conduct a triple-stage explosion similar to its first hydrogen-bomb -test June 17, estimated to have un- leashed the force of at least three millions tons of TNT. But what apparently hap- pened was that the fission trig- ger of enriched uranium de tonated and failed to set off' the fusion reaction in the ther-' monuclear material. The explosion, conducted in the vicinity of Lop Nor, the site of previous Chinese tests, had a force of about 20 kilotons, or Approved For Release 2006/01/30 : CIA-RDP70BOO338ROO0300080045-8