Hui Zhang

Satellite images and other accounts suggest that China has started operation of its first 200 MT/year demonstration reprocessing plant, Project I, at the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) Gansu Nuclear Technology Industrial Park in Jinta, Gansu province. Meanwhile, the construction of the second 200 MT/year plant, Project II, at the same site has been completed and would be ready to operate soon, while the third one, Project III, is still under active construction (see Figure 1).

Figure 1: The demonstration reprocessing and MOX facilities at Jinta, Gansu. Satellite image from 2 February 2026 (Coordinates: 40.333750, 98.494167). Credit: SkyFi/Vantor.

China started the construction of its first 200 tons/year demonstration reprocessing plant (Project I) for spent light-water reactor fuel in 2015. Since about 2020, CNNC has begun procuring and installing equipment for the reprocessing lines. At the time, it was expected that Project I would be operational in 2025.

While there have been no official statements or news coverage so far concerning the status of the plant, satellite images and other accounts suggest the first reprocessing plant started operations by mid-2025, maybe as early as late 2024.

The PUREX reprocessing processes need steam for heating chemical mixtures, driving distillation, and dissolving fuel. The demo reprocessing plant seems using the gas-fired steam generation plant with six high stacks for dispersing combustion exhaust, including, for example, water vapor and CO2 (see Figure 2).

Figure 2. Zoom of the Steam Generation Plant shown in Figure 1. The six stacks of the natural gas-fired steam generation plant and their shadows and the steam pipe are clearly shown in the image.

The image taken on 11 November 2024 shows some plumes over the top of high stacks (see Figure 3). This is consistent with Chinese accounts that the first demo plant had started operation before mid-2025. It should be noted that unlike vapor coming out of reactor cooling towers, these plumes are not necessarily visible to satellite sensors, in particular during warmer weather. Given that the coldest month in Jinta area is January, the plumes would be easier to see in satellite images taken in winter. The image taken on 26 January 2026 clearly shows plumes over the stacks and some steam coming out of the plant (see Figure 4).

Figure 3. The natural gas-fired steam generation plant near reprocessing and MOX facilities at Jinta, Gansu. Light steam plumes over each stack are visible. Satellite image from 11 November 2024. Credit: Google Earth, Airbus.

Figure 4. The natural gas-fired steam generation plant near reprocessing and MOX facilities at Jinta, Gansu. Long shadows of six stacks and the plumes above the stacks are visible. Steam can also be seen over the plant. Satellite image from 26 January 2026. Credit: SkyFi/Vantor.

Satellite images and commercial bidding and purchase documents show that China started the construction of its second 200 NMT/year demonstration reprocessing plant (Project II) in late 2019. While Project II construction began about four years later than Project I, satellite images from November 2024 show that it was completed at the same time as Project I, suggesting an accelerated construction schedule. This means that Project II could be ready to operate or may be operating already. If that is the case, it would be much earlier than the previously expected date of 2030.

Also, satellite images and other accounts suggest that in 2023 China started construction of a third demonstration reprocessing plant (Project III). Like Projects I and II, Project III probably has the capacity of 200 MT/year of spent light-water reactor fuel. However, one cannot exclude the possibility that Project III could reprocess spent fuel of fast breeder reactors. Based on the experience of Projects I and II, Project III could be commissioned earlier than the previously expected date of 2033.

Moreover, since 2018, CNNC has built a demonstration mixed uranium-plutonium oxide (MOX) fuel fabrication line with a capacity of 20 MT/year at the site. Satellite images show that the construction of this facility was completed by November 2024. The image taken in 2026 shows the completed MOX plant (see Figure 5). It was expected to be commissioned in 2025. However, it is not clear whether the plant has begun operations.

Figure 5. Zoom of the MOX facility shown in Figure 1 (image taken on 2 February 2026). The construction was completed by November 2024. It was expected to be operational in 2025. It is not clear if the facility has begun operations.

This MOX facility is believed to have been built to supply the fuel for China's second CFR-600 breeder reactor, which has been under construction since 2020 and is expected to become operational in 2026. While the fuel for the first CFR-600 reactor, which began operation in 2023, will be supplied by Russia, the second one is likely to use fuel produced domestically. The intergovernmental agreement that covers the cooperation between China and Russia on CFR-600 and related projects appears to include an option of using Russian-origin plutonium, but China may want to use domestic plutonium as well.

If the second CFR-600 uses domestic MOX, and assuming it requires about 5.5 MT of MOX fuel annually (containing about 1 MT of plutonium), the full operation of the first 200 MT/year reprocessing plant (separating about 2 MT of plutonium per year) would cover the CFR's needs twice. With the second reprocessing plant coming online soon, China will quickly accumulate a huge stock of reactor-grade plutonium, at least several times as large as its military stocks of plutonium (about 3 MT).

Moreover, since 2010, China has been producing civilian plutonium at its 50 MT/year pilot plant at Jiuquan complex (Plant 404) at Gansu. In 2017, China submitted its last official report to IAEA and declared having 40.9 kg of separated plutonium as of 31 December 2016. According to one conference report, the pilot plant began operating at the nominal capacity in 2017, which means it has been producing 500 kilograms of plutonium per year since 2017. This means that China may have accumulated about 4-5 MT of reactor-grade plutonium by 2026.

All this shows significant uncertainty about China's plutonium recycling programs. It would be in China's interest to make it more transparent, for example by resuming reporting on its stockpile of civilian plutonium to the IAEA, which was discontinued in 2017.

On 8 May 2026, the US National Nuclear Security Administration announced that it removed all enriched uranium from Venezuela.

According to the NNSA report, the removal of the material was first discussed during the visit of DOE Secretary Wright to Venezuela in February 2026. The operation involved NNSA's Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation (DNN), US Department of State personnel in Washington and Caracas, and experts from the United Kingdom, the Venezuelan Ministry of Science and Technology, and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The material was transferred to the Savannah River Site in the United States.

The removed material is 13.5 kg of uranium "enriched to just above 20%" contained in spent fuel of the RV-1 research reactor at the Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research (IVIC). The reactor was shut down in 1991.

According to the information released by the US Global Threat Reduction Initiative (GTRI) program in 2015, the United States removed 54 spent fuel assemblies from Venezuela in October 1998 and 2 spent fuel assemblies in November 1999. These assemblies contained US-origin material.

The fuel assemblies removed in this shipment contained HEU supplied by the United Kingdom.

The Belgian Nuclear Research Centre SCK•CEN requested approval from the Federal Agency for Nuclear Control (FANC) to begin operations of its BR2 research reactor with LEU fuel.

The reactor so far has been using HEU fuel with 93% enrichment. The material has been supplied by the United States. The most recent export license to ship the material to Belgium was approved in May 2023. At the time, the material was supplied as fuel assemblies manufactured by U.S. company Babcock & Wilcox.

According to SCK•CEN, three LEU fuel elements were tested in the reactor in 2023. (World Nuclear News reports that three Lead Test Assemblies were delivered in 2025).) If approved, the LEU fuel would be manufactured by French company Framatome.

On 7 April 2026 the Indian government announced that the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) reached criticality. The 500 MWe reactor is located at Kalpakkam.

Reactor construction began over 20 years ago, in 2004, with a plan to begin operation in 2010 but it has experienced recurring delays. In March 2024 the operator began loading fuel in the reactor. In August 2025 the Department of Atomic Energy announced that the criticality would be achieved in March 2026.

In 2026, India's Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology, Environment, Forests and Climate Change noted that the cost of the breeder reactor project was now estimated to be over twice the initial planned cost: ₹8,181 crore, compared with an original cost of estimate of ₹3,492 crore. (In purchasing power parity terms, the costs are $3.9 billion and $1.7 billion.)

The Committee also noted that 'fast reactor fuel cycle facility' (FRFCF) to reprocess the breeder's spent fuel was originally to be ready to operate in 2014 but it was now expected to be commissioned in December 2029.

The lengthy delays and cost escalations of the PFBR are illustrative of challenges faced by fast breeder reactors elsewhere. For background on the troubled history and operating experiences worldwide of breeder reactors, see the IPFM report Fast Breeder Reactor Programs: History and Status.

BWX Technologies announced its intent to apply to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a license to build a new enrichment facility. The new plant will be built adjacent to the BWXT Nuclear Fuel Services (NFS) facility in Erwin, TN. The plant is expected to begin operations in 2035.

The company reported that this facility will support the $1.5 billion contract it received in September 2025 as part of a DoE program launched in 2024.

The technology for the facility will be developed at the center BWXT established in Oak Ridge, TN and will be based on the research under the Domestic Uranium Enrichment Centrifuge Experiment (DUECE) that has been carried out at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory since 2016.

On 2 April 2026, Urenco USA announced the completion of the first phase of the expansion plan that it unveiled in 2023. The fourth new centrifuge cascade began operations on 30 March 2026, bringing the total newly installed capacity to 350 tSWU/year (the first three cascades became operational in May, September, and December 2025).

After this phase of expansion, the capacity of the plant in Eunice is estimated to be 4,650 tSWU/year.

According to Urenco USA, another 350 tSWU/year of capacity will be added in 2026-2027. The company also plans to add another 2,100 tSWU/year in the future.

If this plan is completed, it would bring the total capacity to 7,100 tSWU/year. The original plan envisioned that the total capacity of the facility would reach 5,700 tSWU/year.

Global Laser Enrichment, a company established to provide enrichment services in the United States, plans to invest $1.76 billion to develop the Paducah Laser Enrichment Facility (PLEF) in Paducah, Kentucky. The company holds a license for Silex laser separation technology.

The site in Paducah is the location of the former DoE Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, closed down in 2013. GLE's interest in the site goes back to 2014, when it applied to the NRC for a license.

Another US company, General Matter, leased a plot of land there. It appears that both companies plan to take advantage of the subsidy provided by the US government for the development of domestic enrichment capacity.

Both apparently plan to re-enrich uranium tails from the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant. The General Matter lease included "a minimum of 7,600 cylinders of existing uranium hexafluoride." As for GLE, DoE sold about 300,000 tonnes of depleted uranium to the company in 2016.

In its 2025 Annual Report URENCO outlined its plans to expand the enrichment capacity. The projected increase is 2500 tSWU/year across the plants in Almelo, Gronau, and Eunice.

The plant in Almelo, the Netherlands, is adding two new production lines, 750 tSWU/year each. The first stage of the expansion was approved in 2023, the second--in 2025. Once the second stage comes online in 2030, the total capacity of the Almelo plant will reach ~6600 tSWU/year, an increase from the 5100 tSWU/year capacity (reported in January 2025).

The plant in Eunice, the United States, is in the process of adding 700 tSWU/year capacity to its 4900 tSWU/year installed there as of 2023, when the expansion plan was unveiled. The installation of new cascades began in 2024. The first three cascades became operational in May, September, and December 2025. The planned expansion is expected to be complete in 2027.

The plant in Gronau, Germany, is undergoing expansion as well. The report notes that the installation of the first two cascades will be ready for installation in 2026. The scale of the expansion has not been announced. A 2023 industry report suggested that it will add a few hundred tSWU/year to the plant's current capacity of 3400 tSWU/year (3600 tSWU/year in January 2025). Taking into account the increases at Almelo and Eunice, to get to the 2500 tSWU/y total, the Gronau plan will probably install additional 300 tSWU/year capacity.

The facility in Capenhurst, the United Kingdom, plans to add a line that will produce HALEU. In 2024 this project was supported by the UK government. According to the annual report, the line is expected to produce up to 27 tonnes HALEU/year. It appears that no expansion of LEU production capacity is planned.

France's minister of the armed forces, Catherine Vautrin, said in an interview for Le Dauphiné Libéré that France can use the uranium and plutonium extracted from warheads dismantled after the end of the Cold War to support the increase of the French nuclear arsenal, announced by President Macron in his address on 2 March 2026. Catherine Vautrin was quoted as saying that:

Nous avons conservé les matières fissiles (uranium et plutonium) issues des têtes nucléaires démantelées après la guerre froide. À ce titre, nous disposons d'un stock totalement suffisant pour produire les nouvelles têtes nucléaires annoncées par Emmanuel Macron. Concernant le tritium qui, lui, ne peut pas être recyclé, le président a lancé un programme national dédié pour assurer notre approvisionnement.

The translation of the quote is below:

We have retained the fissile materials (uranium and plutonium) from the nuclear warheads dismantled after the Cold War. In this regard, we have a fully sufficient stockpile to produce the new nuclear warheads announced by Emmanuel Macron. As for tritium, which cannot be recycled, the President has launched a dedicated national programme to ensure our supply.

France is estimated to have about 6 tonnes of plutonium and about 25 tonnes of HEU that are available for weapons. These amounts far exceed what is required to maintain France's current arsenal of fewer than 300 warheads.

The size of the post-Cold War arsenal was first officially disclosed in 2008. In his address on 21 March 2008 in Cherbourg, then President of France Nicolas Sarkozy stated that

our arsenal will include fewer than 300 nuclear warheads. That is half of the maximum number of warheads we had during the Cold War.

The 300-warheads ceiling was then confirmed by President Hollande in 2015 and President Macron in 2020.

The 2008 announcement suggests that France can at least double the number of nuclear warheads in its arsenal, going back to the Cold War levels. It also appears to have enough material for a more significant increase. While the exact amounts of uranium and plutonium in French warheads are unknown, it may be estimated that 300 warheads contain about 1.2 tonnes of plutonium and about 5 tonnes of HEU out of 6 tonnes and 25 tonnes of the stock available for weapons respectively.

Unlike uranium and plutonium, the stock of tritium produced during the Cold War requires replenishment. In March 2024, France unveiled a program to produce tritium in the EDF civilian reactor in Civaux. In the past, tritium was produced in reactors of the CEA (Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique, Atomic Energy Commission).

This post contains a summary of INFCIRC/549 reports by the countries that submit annual civilian plutonium declarations that reflect the status of civilian plutonium stocks as of 31 December 2024. The total amount of plutonium declared as civilian was about 379 tonnes, an increase of about 5 tonnes since the end of 2023. Only about 146 tonnes of this material are under international (IAEA or Euratom) safeguards. The other 232 tonnes are not safeguarded, but are covered by various obligations not to use the material for military purposes.

Japan (INFCIRC/549/Add.1-28) reported owning the total of 44.4 tonnes of plutonium, 8.6 tonnes of which is in Japan (the numbers in 2023 were 44.5 tons and 8.7 tons respectively). According to the Status Report on Plutonium Management in Japan - 2024 released in August 2025, out of the 35.8 tons of plutonium abroad, 21.713 tonnes are in the United Kingdom and 14.079 tonnes are in France.

Germany (INFCIRC/549/Add.2-28) reported having no separated plutonium in the country for the fifth year in a row. Germany does not report separated plutonium outside of the country. It is believed to be less than 1 tonne.

Belgium (INFCIRC/549/Add.3-24) declared no separated plutonium in storage or at reprocessing plants and "not zero, but less than 50 kg" of separated plutonium in other categories. It reported that it had no foreign plutonium as of 31 December 2024.

Switzerland (INFCIRC/549/Add.4-29) reported having less than 2 kg of plutonium in the country (in the "located elsewhere" category). The number has not changed since 2016 (it was "less than 50 kg" in 2015).

France (INFCIRC/549/Add.5-29) reported having 113.7 tonnes of separated unirradiated plutonium in its custody. Of this amount, 14.45 tonnes belongs to foreign countries (no change since 2023). Almost all that plutonium - 14,079 kg - belongs to Japan. The amount of plutonium owned by France is 99.25 tonnes, an increase of 3 tonnes from previous year (96.25 tonnes).

The United States (INFCIRC/549/Add.6-26) declared 49.4 tonnes of separated plutonium, of which 4.6 tons are in MOX fuel and 44.8 tons are "held elsewhere" (most of this material is believed to be in weapon components). The total amount was reported to be 49 tons in 2023. Note that the United States did not submit the 2023 report. The 2024 report, however, contains some data that refer to the 2023 amounts. The amount described as "disposed as waste" was 5.3 tonnes in 2024, an increase from 4.7 tonnes in 2022.

China has not has not submitted its 2017-2024 reports as of 2 March 2026. The last INFCIRC/549 report submitted to the IAEA showed 40.9 kg of separated plutonium as of 31 December 2016.

The United Kingdom (INFCIRC/549/Add.8-28) reported owning 116.8 tonnes of separated plutonium (no change from 2023). In addition to that, the United Kingdom stores 24.1 tonnes of foreign plutonium (of which 21.713 tonnes is owned by Japan and 1.58 tonnes by Italy). The total amount of separated plutonium in the United Kingdom is 140.9 tonnes.

Russia (INFCIRC/549/Add.9-27) reported owning 66.1 tonnes of civilian plutonium, an increase from 64.9 tonnes reported in 2023.

In addition to reporting plutonium stocks, some countries also submit data on their civilian HEU:

Germany reported 0.42 tonnes of HEU "contained in research reactors" (0.39 tonnes in 2023), 0.94 tonnes of HEU in irradiated research reactor fuel "contained in storage," and 0.02 tonnes in the category "HEU held elsewhere."

France declared 5363 kg of HEU (5369 kg in 2023), of which 3749 kg (3801 kg) is unirradiated material - 539 kg (573 kg) of HEU at fuel fabrication or reprocessing plants, 10 kg (51 kg) at civil reactor sites, 3200 kg (3177 kg) at various research facilities. Also declared are 1614 kg (1551 kg) of irradiated HEU - 52 kg (40 kg) at civil reactor sites and 1562 kg (1528 kg) in other locations.

The United Kingdom reported having 637 kg of HEU (636 kg in 2023). Of this amount, 501 kg is unirradiated HEU (499 in 2023): less than 1 kg of unirradiated HEU is stored at the enrichment plants, less than 1 kg is at civil reactor sites, 438 kg - at fuel fabrication facilities, and 63 kg - at other sites (412 kg and 87 kg respectively in 2023). Irradiated HEU is located at civil reactor sites (5 kg) and other sites (132 kg).