In this contribution, we report the results of NMR studies of the behaviour of water in a hydrating Sorel cement paste with a composition close to the stoichiometric optimum. Both the transverse spin-relaxation behaviour and water self-diffusion were studied in two separate experiments performed on samples on the basis of the same formulation. While there is a very strong initial decrease in the transverse relaxation time of the water in the paste, the diffusion coefficient is found to decrease mainly at later times of the hydration process where the decrease of the transverse relaxation time has already strongly slowed down. After about 6 h of the hardening process, the signal intensity available for a pulsed gradient diffusometry experiment is not sufficient any more for reliable measurements of the diffusion coefficients. M agnesium oxychloride cem ents (first described by Sorel [1]) are primarily used as a jointless floor ing material. They are also used in certain plaster and stucco applications and as binder for the produc tion o f light-w eight construction plates from coarse w ood chips. M g oxychloride cem ent is also discussed as a possible material for preventing m ining dam ages from old salt m ines and for sealing hazardous waste dumps in such old m ines [2]. Compared to other binder system s, such as portland cem ent and gypsum , m agnesium oxychloride cem ent provides a higher m echanical strength [3]. O xychloride cem ents are typically prepared from M gO powder and a highly concentrated solution o f M gC l2. In contrast to classical cem ent materials, the pH values for such pastes are typically in the acidic range. For practical application o f oxychloride ce m ents one is usually interested in a com position close to a molar ratio o f (5:1:13) o f (M gO : M gC l2 : wa ter) [4]. O xychloride hydrate phases o f this com po sition are also important in the formation o f early strength o f the hardening mixtures. Water transport processes play a crucial role in the hardening o f the oxychloride cem ents, and also in the later carbonatization and corrosion processes. NM R relaxometry and diffusometry offer a destruc tion-free approach for studying the dynam ics o f the fluid pore water in hydrating construction materials such as ordinary cem ents [5, 6], slag cem ents [7, 8] and gypsum [9]. Here, w e report the application o f these techniques to m agnesium oxychloride cem ents. Materials and Methods Magnesium oxychloride cem ent sam ples were pre pared from food grade "heavy" m agnesium oxide powder obtained from Merck, Darmstadt, and from a 5 M watery solution o f m agnesium chloride hexahydrate (analytical grade, also from Merck, Darmstadt). Pastes were m ixed from 5 g M gO and 5 m l o f the M gC l2 solution by means o f m echanical stirring with a plastics (PVC) rod in sm all rectangular polypropy lene containers. For the experim ents, the sam ples were filled either in plastics sam ple tubes produced from disposable 3 ml polypropylene syringes with a Luer-Lock connector (Becton-D ickinson, M eyl...