The civilian enrichment facility of CNNC's Plant 814 at Emeishan runs three large centrifuge plants (CEP1-3) with an estimated 4 million SWU a year, plus a small pilot plant. A fourth plant (CEP4), with an estimated 1.5-2 million SWU a year, was structurally completed in April 2026 and is expected to begin operating as early as late 2026.
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Current state
| Status | Expanding |
| Country | China |
| Location | Emeishan, Sichuan |
| Operator | CNNC (Plant 814) |
| Ownership | China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), state-owned. |
| Facility type | Enrichment plant |
| Technology | Gas centrifuge |
| Products | LEU |
| Capacity (tSWU/yr) | 4,000 |
| Target capacity (tSWU/yr) | 5,500 |
| Target year | 2027 |
Notes
Current 4,000 tSWU excludes the ~250 tSWU pilot plant (operating since 2007). Target 5,500 is the low end of IPFM's 5,500-6,000 tSWU/yr after CEP4 (normal operation expected 2027). Belfer/Zhang argue the scale of Chinese expansion exceeds projected civil demand and may support military needs; this record covers the civilian facility only. China does not publish enrichment capacity; all figures are outside estimates by Hui Zhang (IPFM/Belfer) from satellite imagery. WNA (Sept 2026) estimates CNNC capacity at 13,789 tSWU in 2025 rising to 18,230 tSWU by 2030, assuming China supplies its domestic fleet.
Timeline
- 2013 — Emeishan CEP1 began operation. (source)
- 2017 — Emeishan CEP2 began operation. (source)
- 2023 — Emeishan CEP3 began operation after construction resumed in late 2020. (source)
- 2024 — Construction of Emeishan CEP4 started (around late 2024). (source)
- 2026-04 — The main enrichment building and cooling towers of Emeishan CEP4 were completed. (source)
The timeline is append-only: corrections are added as new entries. Stated targets appear in the current-state table, never as milestones.
NNN coverage
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See all 29 facilities in the Uranium Enrichment & HALEU Tracker →
Sources
- Rapid expansion of China's enrichment capacity at Emeishan — International Panel on Fissile Materials, checked 2026-10-11
- China started operation of two new enrichment plants in 2023 — International Panel on Fissile Materials, checked 2026-10-11
- China's Uranium Enrichment Expansion: Worrisomely Large — Belfer Center, Harvard Kennedy School, checked 2026-10-11