MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th March, 2023) US Republican congressmen have sent a letter to National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, urging him to thwart the Russian-Chinese nuclear cooperation following reports that Russia's state nuclear corporation Rosatom was allegedly providing highly enriched uranium to Beijing.
"We call on the administration to view this (nuclear) co-operation for what it is, a direct threat to US security and more evidence that Russia and China are working in tandem against the United States. The administration should use all tools at its disposal to stop Rosatom and the PRC's dangerous co-operation," congressmen Mike Rogers, Michael McCaul and Michael Turner said in the letter, as quoted by the Financial Times.
In addition, Rogers, McCaul and Turner reportedly expressed their concerns to Sullivan over a possible uranium delivery for Chinese fast-breeder reactors used to produce plutonium that could help China increase its nuclear warheads stockpile.
"Rosatom's pivotal role in helping the Russian military get around the international sanctions regime and its support for China's strategic nuclear build-up are threats to US national security. It's far past time to use the tools at our disposal to stop these destructive actions," McCaul told the Financial Times.
In December 2022, Rosatom's subsidiary TVEL said that it had completed all shipments of nuclear fuel to China for 2022 which was used to supply the CFR-600 fast-neutron reactor. The reactor CFR-600 will be part of the first unit of the Xiapu nuclear power plant that has been under construction since 2017.
In February 2023, the United States imposed sanctions against Russian rocket design bureau NPO Mashinostroeniya, a manufacturer of Zircon hypersonic missiles, and a number of Rosatom corporation companies producing composite materials.
