China is quietly rebuilding secretive base for nuclear tests

Written by William J. Broad, Chris Buckley and Jonathan Corum In the remote desert where China detonated its first atomic bomb nearly 60 years ago, a drilling rig recently bored a deep vertical shaft that is estimated to plunge down at least a third of a mile. It is the strongest evidence yet that Beijing is weighing whether to test a new generation of nuclear arms that could increase the lethality of its rapidly expanding missile force. For years, US government reports and independent experts have expressed vague concerns about the old base, Lop Nur. The reports point to possible…