China, May 10: China is fast becoming the world’s nuclear energy superpower, with over 100 nuclear reactors either in operation or under development. Yet, even as this growth holds out the promise of energy self-sufficiency and reduced emissions, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has expressed serious concerns regarding the susceptibility of these facilities to military attack.
In a newly published peer-reviewed study, PLA Army Engineering University military researchers, headed by Associate Professor Wang Fengshan, cautioned that China’s growing chain of coastal nuclear reactors may become key targets during war, especially in disputed areas such as the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea. The study, which appeared in the Command Control and Simulation journal, underscored that the current Russia-Ukraine conflict has destroyed the age-old presumption that civilian nuclear facilities are taboo during war.
“China is at a critical moment of strategic opportunity, but nuclear power plants and other priority infrastructure are subject to genuine and changing threats in complicated international and domestic situations,” the report said. The group cautioned that the plants, which are high-value assets, would “necessarily” be attacked in the case of large-scale war, regional conflict, or even terrorist strikes.
The research specifically quotes the frequent bombing of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant the largest in Europe, as a chilling example that illustrates the pragmatic futility of international prohibitions against attacking nuclear facilities. Despite long-standing international norms, real-world battlefront reality shows nuclear plants with growing vulnerability to such attacks.
The PLA scholars tested a variety of possible threats, including strategic bomber attacks, long-range missile strikes, and even nuclear-tipped raids. The effects of such raids could be apocalyptic, with the possibility of mass casualties from direct impacts, structural destruction of reactors and safety features, and extensive radioactive contamination of agriculture, marine environments, and civilian populations.
To reduce these hazards, the panel suggested a balanced risk assessment structure to inform reactor placement, reactor structure, defense policy, and emergency response practice. They further urged the importance of revising these structures consistently based on shifts in global security and geopolitical hostilities.
Their report highlights a wider trend in Chinese policy and military thinking, one that increasingly sees domestic infrastructure as a strategic weakness during periods of increased international tension. The report is released at a time when nuclear powers are facing deteriorating relations, and the risk of direct military confrontations between them is growing.
While the world nuclear landscape is changing, China’s quest to dominate energy can be accompanied by just as compelling security imperatives that its reactors are not only efficient but secure.
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