RESTRICTED
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RECEIVED I
ATOMIC ENERGY DIVISION
18 JDEBARTMENT OF ENERGY
--Thames House South, Millbank, LONDON, SWIP 4QJ
Telephone: Direct Line 01-211 5008
Switboard 01-211 3000
Swing Board
John Alty Esq
Department of Trade and Industry
Ashdown House
Room 582
123 Victoria Street
London SW1E 6RB
CM 172
11 July 1986
Dour John,
GUANGDONG NUCLEAR PROJECT: VISIT BY UKAEA TO CHINA
255B
1.
Thank you for your letter of 10 July. I am grateful for your help in preparing a first draft of Terms of Reference.
2. I have only studied the draft quickly, and I may want to write again when I have studied it in more detail, in consultation with the UKAEA. But, even at a first reading, it seems to me
dilemma which I always feared especially in conjunction with envisaged in paragraph 3.
that the draft throws in relief the was inherent in the proposed visit, the presentation to PRC authorities
3. The problem is that the study which the Hong Kong Government wants, to validate the assumptions underlying UKAEA's accident assessment, will almost certainly require lengthy discussion with
tough cross-questioning, the Chinese, many visits, and, probably,
(I think we both if the resulting study if to be soundly based. agree that there can be no question of the UKAEA's lending their
Such name to anything other than a thorough, professional, job). a study would also take time. It also goes far beyond anything which could reasonably be described as "receiving a briefing" from the PRC authorities, and I should expect those authorities to think carefully before agreeing to subject themselves to such an audit.
Conversely, I doubt very much whether the UKAEA could, as professional consultants, offer, on the basis of a single visit, any firm opinion on the question of adequacy of safety infrastructure, nor should I expect an inconclusive report to go far to reassure the people of Hong Kong ".
4.
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