China's newest nuclear submarine Zhou sank, but they are hiding it

Satellite images show that the Zhou nuclear submarine sank around May or early June, but Beijing is trying to cover up the incident.

Here's What We Know

The newspaper cited photographs and said that large floating cranes had arrived at the site near the pier on the Yangtze River where the boat sank to raise it from the bottom.

It is unclear what is happening to the ship and whether it was carrying nuclear fuel. The US also does not know whether any of the crew was killed or injured on board.

The sunken nuclear boat at a shipyard near Wuhan. Photo: Planet Labs PBC

In addition, U.S. officials have seen no signs that Chinese authorities have taken water samples to check for radiation contamination. At the same time, they add that "the risk of a leak is likely low because the submarine was not at sea and its reactors were probably not operating at high power levels."

According to a report by the US military, as of last year, China had six nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines, six nuclear attack submarines and 48 diesel-powered submarines in service.

Source: AP