NPR:


China appears to be expanding its sprawling nuclear weapons testing complex in the nation’s western desert. Satellite imagery shared exclusively with NPR shows a possible new tunnel being dug and fresh roads added at the site, known as Lop Nur, where China has tested its nuclear weapons in the past.

“This is new construction linked to areas that have in the past supported nuclear test activities,” says Renny Babiarz, vice president for analysis and operations at AllSource Analysis, a private geospatial analysis firm that spotted the tunnel using satellite imagery from the commercial company Planet.

But Babiarz adds that it remains far from clear what the tunnel will be used for. China has not conducted full-scale nuclear testing since the 1990s, when it and the world’s other major nuclear powers entered into a voluntary moratorium on testing. The Chinese government, and other nations including the U.S., have continued to test the nonnuclear components of nuclear weapons — sometimes underground…



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