Registry
No.
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
DRAFT
SUBMISSION
To:-
Top Secret.
Secret.
Mr Murray
Confidential.
1
Restricted.
Unclassified.
PRIVACY MARKING
SECRET
Type 1 +
From
D F Milton
Telephone No. Ext.
Department.
HKGD
DSR11
......................................In Confidence
Copy to:
Mr Makepeace, ESSD Mr Free-Gore, MGD Mr Orr, FED
Mr Fuller, Defence
Dept
Mr Rawlinson, WED Mr Boardman, DS16,
MOD
Mr Doyle, Maritime
Division, DOT
7
HONG KONG: VISIT OF THE "OTTO HAHN"
PROBLEM
1.
To what extent should HMG regard itself as responsible for the Hong Kong Government's present handling of the insurance and safety
aspects connected with the proposed visit to Hong Kong of the Federal
German nuclear-powered merchant ship, the "Otto Hahn"?
BACKGROUND
2. The "Otto Hahn", a nuclear powered merchantman, is owned by
GKSS, a company set up and 90% owned by the Federal Government
specifically to operate nuclear ships. (The remaining 10% interést
is owned by the German Länder.) The vessel visits the Netherlands
frequently as part of its normal commercial activities. It also
visited Southampton in October last year. This visit followed
protracted and complicated negotiations which were handled at the
time by the DOT in consultation with the DOE and the FCO. These
were primarily concerned with the question of liability in the event
of a nuclear accident. If an accident occurred it could take the
Curr
form of a radioactive discharge; there is said to be no possibility
of a nuclear explosion.
3.
In November last year the Federal German Embassy in London
requested permission for the "Otto Hahn" to call at Hong Kong during
a visit to South East Asia and the Far East. It was concluded that
there were no political objections to the visit and that in the
interests of Anglo/German relations generally and of visits by Royal
Navy nuclear submarines to FRG ports in particular it should be
allowed to go ahead. The Hong Kong Government agreed.
/At the
...
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