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this i ay be argued that, while Western interests will be involved in the running of the station, the operating
company will be incorporated in the PRC and will ultimately
be under PRC control. Moreover, responsibility for the
maintenance of safety standards will rest with the PRC
authorites.
4. A decision on this must be essentially one of tactics but if it appeared that refusal to accept some third party
might liability was likely to prejudice the project it may be
#L necessary to reach some compromise. One possible approach
might be to propose that while responsibility be placed on
the operating company to meet claims for nuclear damage wherever it occurs bet, subject to an insurable limit, the PRC should be relieved of any residual liability above that
limit in respect of damage in Hong Kong. In return the PRC should accept that no claims could be made against the Hong
Kong or UK Governments in respect of damage in the PRC. It
would of course be necessary to provide (either in Hong Kong
or UK legislation) that claims for compensation for damages
in Hong Kong, which could not be met by the operating
company, would be met (subject to an overall limit) by the Hong Kong and/or UK Government. This approach has a number
of advantages:
(a)
(b)
Since the nuclear power station is planned to be
30 miles from Hong Kong (with a range of hills between), the chances of damage there are considerably less
than in the PRC. The contingent liability would
thus be less if shared on a territorial basis than if
shared in proportion to the respective PRC and Western holdings in the operating company;
The people of Hong Kong would have a reliable guarantee
of compensation in the event of nuclear accident which would not be dependent on PRC acceptance, eg of valuations of property and expectation of life, which might differ considerably between Hong Kong and the PRC. HMG's confidence in the project implied in this
assumption of liability could also help overcome
public resistance in Hong Kong to the Guangdong project;
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/(c)