China has decided to spend 93 million yuan (about US$11.6 million) to better protect the country's first nuclear weapons research and production base in northwest China's Qinghai Province, according to local official sources.

 

The money will be used in building exhibition halls, renovation of ruins of the former atom bomb base and improvement of the local natural environment, according to the Qinghai Provincial Cultural Heritage Bureau.

 

The Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee has decided to allocate 10 million yuan to fund the protection project.

 

Covering more than 1,100 square km, the former atom bomb base was the birth place of China's first atom bomb and first hydrogen bomb. It was built in 1958 and was closed by the government in 1987 to support its demands for a complete ban and the destruction of all nuclear weapons in the world. The retired atom bomb base was handed over to the local government in 1993.

 

Xihai Town, the current name for the base, will be turned into an exhibition center which displays the birth and growth of China's first atom tomb and hydrogen bomb, and the devotion of Chinese scientists to the scientific research, said a local official.

 

"The retired base was expected to become a platform for spurring the patriotic spirit of the general public," said Ma Weimin, deputy head of the Qinghai Provincial Cultural Heritage Bureau.

 

The "nuclear city" was put under state key protection in 2001 and it opened to visitors in 2003.

 

Tests show that environmental factors in the locality meet international standards.

 

(Xinhua News Agency March 19, 2006)