[The following is an excerpt from an article that appeared in the Danish newspaper Information on 8 May 1996. Please note that the original story stems from the Japanese news agency Kyodo on 22 April where the "plans" in question are described as proposals, not finalised plans. Reuter has also carried the story.]

- British nuclear expert assesses that China's plans to use nuclear bombs in Tibet will have serious environmental consequences -

By Rikke May

If nuclear bomb blasts are chosen to dig underground canals, an unnecessary risk for serious radioactive pollution is taken. Says John Simpson who is expert in nuclear power at the university in Southampton as a comment to China's plans to use nuclear bombs to dig underground irrigation canals in Tibet. According to the Chinese plans, the canals should go through a mountain range so that the water is led to the Taklimakan desert 800 kilometers away. The purpose is to afforest the desert area.

The Chinese scientists, He Zuoxiu and Gong Yuzhi, dismiss that the use of nuclear bombs will endanger the environment.

(...)

Russian connections

John Simpson does not know the plans in detail because the Chinese "on the whole do not let nuclear information get out". But he finds it difficult to see how the Chinese can legitimise their plans: "There is some sort of pressure group in Beijing with connections to the Russian nuclear industry, i.e. the part of the industry that has dealt with development and tests of nuclear bombs for peaeful purposes. This is perhaps where the Chinese scientists have their references to Russia from."

But Simpson referres to western experiences showing the opposite: that nuclear bombs strain the environment immensely - even if they are "only" used for underground detonations.

"Egypt, for example, once planned to use nuclear bombs in this way. They quickly arrived at the conclusion that it would be too dangerous and beyond computation for the environment compared to the use of common excavating machines."

The risk of radioactive pollution will generally always be lower, the deeper down nuclear bombs are detonated.

"The weighing between the use of nuclear bombs for underground excavation - which is effective, seen in isolation - and environmental considerations has always been seen as a "catch 22" in the West: if the nuclear detonations are to be sufficiently effective, the risk for the environment will be very great. According to western evaluation, the enviromental risk will always be unaceptable."

(...)

Submitted by Anders Hojmark Andersen, anders@cybernet.dk