China exploits US-funded research on nuclear technology, a congressional report says

China’s Military Gains Access to Sensitive U.S. Nuclear Research, Congressional Report Finds

China has been leveraging partnerships with American researchers funded by the Department of Energy to gain access to sensitive nuclear technology and other innovations critical to U.S. national security, according to a congressional report released Wednesday.

The investigation revealed more than 4,300 academic papers published between June 2023 and June 2024 involving collaborations between DOE-funded scientists and Chinese researchers. Approximately half of these papers involved Chinese researchers affiliated with China’s military or industrial base, raising significant security concerns.

Congressional investigators from the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party and the House Committee on Education and the Workforce highlighted how federal funds have supported research collaborations with Chinese state-owned laboratories and universities directly working for China’s military, including some organizations listed in a Pentagon database of Chinese military companies operating in the United States.

“These longstanding policy failures and inaction have left taxpayer-funded research vulnerable to exploitation by China’s defense research and industrial base and state-directed technology transfer activities,” the report concluded.

The Department of Energy, which oversees 17 national laboratories and distributes hundreds of millions of dollars annually for advanced research in nuclear energy, weapons development, quantum computing, materials science, and physics, said it will review the report to “better assess, understand, and validate its assertions.” The department added that it “takes seriously its responsibility to steward federal funds and safeguard critical research capabilities.”

This investigation represents part of a broader congressional effort to create barriers preventing U.S. research from strengthening China’s military capabilities at a time when the two nations are locked in an escalating technological and arms race that will shape future global power dynamics.

Rep. John Moolenaar, a Michigan Republican who chairs the select committee, expressed alarm at the findings. “The Department of Energy failed to ensure the security of its research and it put American taxpayers on the hook for funding the military rise of our nation’s foremost adversary,” he stated.

The report follows several previous congressional investigations that uncovered similar concerns. Last year, Republicans released findings that partnerships between U.S. and Chinese universities had allowed hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding to help Beijing develop critical technologies potentially strengthening its military. A separate investigation this year found that the Pentagon had recently funded hundreds of projects in collaboration with Chinese entities linked to China’s defense industry.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington dismissed the report, stating that the select committee “has long smeared and attacked China for political purposes and has no credibility to speak of.” Embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu added that “a handful of U.S. politicians are overstretching the concept of national security to obstruct normal scientific research exchanges, a move that wins no public support and is bound to fail.”

Congressional investigators recommended several policy changes to address these vulnerabilities, including a standardized approach for assessing national security risks in research and requirements for the Energy Department to share information about research ties with China across government agencies to better identify potential threats.

Moolenaar introduced legislation earlier this year aimed at preventing research funding in science, technology, and defense from supporting collaborations with “foreign adversary-controlled” entities posing national security risks. While the legislation cleared the House, it failed to advance as part of the annual defense policy bill after facing strong opposition from the scientific community.

More than 750 faculty members and senior staff from American universities warned congressional leaders in an October letter that overly broad restrictions could harm America’s competitive edge in science and technology. They advocated for “very careful and targeted measures for risk management” instead of sweeping limitations on international collaboration, noting that the U.S. remains in a global competition for scientific talent.

As tensions between the United States and China continue to escalate, balancing open scientific collaboration with national security concerns remains a significant challenge for American policymakers and research institutions.