China seeks oil in nuclear wasteland

Text of report by Xinhua news agency

Lop Nur (Xinjiang), 25th November: China is looking for oil in the nuclear wasteland in northwestern China's Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region soon after the Chinese government agreed to a moratorium on nuclear testing last year.

On the lifeless land of the western Lop Nur, a granite stele engraved with the inscription "The Centre of China's First Nuclear Test Explosion" stood lonely in the wilderness, with only a few footprints of wild camels around it.

About eight kilometres south of the stele is a group of white-coloured temporary buildings which house over 100 geologists and workmen looking for oil.

At Lop Nur, a desolate area often dubbed as the "zone of death", China conducted 23 atmospheric nuclear tests from 1964 to 1981.

China formally became a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in March of 1992, and in July last year the Chinese government announced a moratorium on nuclear testing.

Sixteen years after China stopped nuclear explosions at the site, the region's radioactive level has dropped to a much lower and normal standard and poses no threat to the environment, according to researchers working there.

"Our gamma radiation measurements have shown that the radiation here is pretty low," said Huo Wenhong, director of the prospecting team sent by the China Petroleum and Natural Gas Corporation.

"There is no nuclear contamination of water and soil here. My colleagues and I are not worried about any health effects due to environmental exposure," he added.

China Petroleum and Natural Gas Corporation has spent nearly 100m yuan (12m US dollars) conducting geological prospecting since last year and half of the job was done by Huo's team.

"Since Lop Nur has been known as a 'forbidden zone' to life, we have always regarded guarantee of safety, health and environment as top consideration," he said.

But Luo said that his team has to endure sufferings of other elements of nature in order to work and live here.

"Our chief challenges here are howling winds, terrible droughts and burning sunlight," he noted.

Lop Nur was a huge lake and marsh land until it completely dried up in 1972.

Since the legendary Silk Road city Loulan was rediscovered by a Swedish archaeologist by the lakeside in 1900, only a few intrepid Chinese and Western scientists and archaeologists have trekked here.

"I believe that Lop Nur and Loulan will come back to life if we find oil here," said geologist Wang Mili.

Source: Xinhua news agency, Beijing, in English 1227 gmt 25 Nov 97

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