Nuclear fusion research directly aids nuclear weapon development by providing data, advanced simulation capabilities, and material knowledge necessary to maintain, modernize, and create weapons without explosive testing. It mimics thermonuclear explosion conditions at a small scale, allowing researchers to study ignition, weapon physics, and high-energy density science.
Key reasons fusion research benefits weapon development include:
Stockpile Stewardship: Facilities like the National Ignition Facility (NIF) allow scientists to study the physical properties of materials under extreme conditions—similar to those in a weapon's core—ensuring the safety and reliability of existing nuclear arsenals without underground testing.
Modeling and Simulation: The high-energy data generated from laser fusion experiments helps validate computer codes and simulations that predict weapon performance and aging, filling the void left by the ban on nuclear explosions.
"Pure Fusion" Weapons Research: Research into inertial confinement fusion (using lasers to create ignition) could theoretically lead to advanced weapons that do not require a conventional uranium or plutonium fission trigger (a "fission-less" bomb), potentially reducing fallout but increasing proliferation risks.
Tritium Production and Advanced Design: Fusion research provides expertise in handling materials like tritium and deuterium, which are essential for boosting the yield of modern thermonuclear weapons.
The Dual-Use Dilemma
While often marketed as clean energy research, fusion studies are deeply intertwined with military applications because the fundamental science of controlling thermonuclear reactions is identical to the science of weaponizing them. For example, the intense neutron radiation produced in fusion experiments can be used to study how materials degrade inside a weapon, or potentially used to breed weapons-grade fuel like tritium or Plutonium-239.
This why there is a huge military competition in this field, and not much cooperation, the dream to create human controlled Sun be damned:
“America's top diplomat for nuclear-weapons issues, Undersecretary of State Thomas DiNanno, revealed this month that China conducted a secret underground nuclear test in June 2020. This follows President Trump's promise in October to resume U.S. nuclear-weapons testing for the first time since 1992, citing the need to keep up with China and Russia.
As the U.S. pursues this important work, it will face challenges far beyond the particulars of underground testing. One area where China is setting a threatening pace is the race for fusion energy, which has enormous potential as a source of electricity and for nuclear-weapons development.
While much has been written about China's civilian fusion energy program, less is known about its military fusion programs, which are focused on inertial confinement fusion (ICF).
Inertial confinement fusion uses powerful lasers or electrical charges to squeeze tiny fuel pellets rapidly until their atoms fuse -- like a controlled, miniature version of the process that powers the sun.
The long-term result is boundless, low-cost noncarbon energy. But these new fusion facilities will also enable China to push the frontier of nuclear-weapons science.
ICF allows scientists to replicate and study the effects of nuclear weapons, including how materials behave under the same extreme temperatures and pressures found inside a nuclear detonation, without an actual nuclear test.
ICF facilities can support the development of new weapons materials and shielding, harden systems against the effects of nuclear weapons, and refine the physics packages that make warheads smaller, more powerful and more reliable.
Over the past five years, China has launched a massive program to build the world's most powerful fusion science facilities for military applications and energy innovation. Given the scale of Beijing's financial and policy support and the secretive nature of some of these programs, it's safe to say mastering fusion has become China's Manhattan Project.
Secretive military nuclear-weapons labs deep within China's western interior have received close to $10 billion in investment to support ICF research and development. These labs are building facilities equipped to produce powerful lasers and huge electrical chargers to help China achieve high-yield ICF.
Americans can test only palm-sized components against limited nuclear effects, while China will be able to test entire warheads against nearly all radiation. U.S. policymakers must recognize that China's big-science bet on ICF could dictate 21st-century dominance in both energy supply and nuclear deterrence. While the U.S. government is publishing ICF roadmaps and strategies, China is building the hardware. This will accelerate China's path toward a more fearsome nuclear arsenal.
China's new ICF sites include a powerful laser-driven facility expected to be called Shenguang-IV or "Divine Light." It is estimated to be at least 50% larger than the U.S. National Ignition Facility, which first demonstrated net gain fusion in 2022.
China could also soon lead in another crucial approach to ICF: pulsed-power fusion. Pulsed power stores energy in large capacitors and releases it in a burst, producing extremely high power for a brief moment, like a controlled lightning bolt. Building a next-generation pulsed-power machine was incorporated into China's 14th Five-Year Plan in 2021.
China is already working to build a hybrid fusion-fission system called Z-FFR, with plans to operate it by 2031.
China's weapons lab is recruiting 2,000 scientists, engineers and other experts for its inertial fusion programs, and thousands of additional hires are anticipated. China is rapidly expanding its ICF systems, with three under construction and two others in late-stage planning. The U.S. government has funded no such systems since creating two in the early 2000s. These existing programs are aging and facing obsolescence given China's investments.
The Trump administration has signaled high-level support for fusion energy efforts, including the establishment of a new Office of Fusion in the Energy Department. Energy Secretary Chris Wright promised in September, "We're going to see multiple pathways to ultimately produce commercial fusion energy."
The U.S. benefits from a dynamic private sector. Innovative U.S. inertial fusion energy companies, including those that use pulsed power and laser approaches, are building demonstration systems on a scale comparable to China's facilities.
But Washington currently has no funded plan for next-generation ICF, including pulsed-power machines, and has provided only modest, early-stage federal support for commercial demonstrations.
As in other strategic industries, America could end up leading in ideas and entrepreneurship while China leads in the big machines, infrastructure and trained workforce that ultimately determine who gets to high-gain fusion first.
If it begins now, the U.S. government can combine the knowledge of our National Labs with the engineering prowess of pulsed-power startups to maintain U.S. dominance in the energy and military applications of fusion, with new facilities coming online during this administration. China's planned pulsed-power ICF build-out is set to give it key nuclear-weapons capabilities on par with or surpassing America's -- if Washington sits back and lets it happen.
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Mr. Goodrich is a senior fellow at the UC Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Mr. Feith is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. He served as a member of the State Department policy-planning staff and as deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asia (2017-21) and as White House senior director for technology and national security (2025).” [1]
1. China May Grab a Lead in the Race for Military Fusion. Goodrich, Jimmy; Feith, David. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 24 Feb 2026: A15.
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