SEP 05 '86 15:06 TIBCOOU) HK GOVT
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Chow Chuen-ho of the HK Economic Journal said that the Daya Bay controversy should not be turned into a political issue. The columnist said that it was beyond doubt that China was sincere in maintaining HK's prosperity and stability. The best course of action would be to convince China of the effect the N-plant would have on HK's prosperity and stability rather than trying to put pressure on China.
Saturday, August 30: The team of Government officials who recently went to the United Kingdom for discussions with the UK Atomic Energy Authority said in a statement issued yesterday that they had a useful visit, the media reported prominently.
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According to the officials, the Government was considering: proposals by the UK consultants for the setting up of an organisation to assess hazards that could potentially affect HK, from an accidental release of radioactive material and to arrange for necessary contingency measures to be adopted.
Some press reports quoted the officials as saying that experts at the UK Atomic Energy Authority felt that there was no need to work out an evacuation plan for HK, which was 50 kilometres from the Daya Bay plant.
The Director of the Electrical and Mechanical Services, Graham Osborne, one of the three officials involved in the visit, was quoted by a few papers, including Ching Po, as saying that the UK consultants did not mention in the Phase I Harwell report that the accident rate at the Daya Bay plant was 1:166.
Another official, Dr M.C.Wong of the Royal Observatory, was quoted by Sing Pao as saying that the rate of serious accidents at each of the reactors at the plant per year was 1:20 000. The rate of a serious accident that would affect HK was about 1:1 000 000..
A Reuter report released from Peking yesterday quoted the first deputy general manager of Guangdong Nuclear Power Joint Venture Company, Sir Jack Cater, as saying that three main contracts for the Daya Bay project should be signed in mid-September, with final authority from the Chinese Government by October 7.
The report also quoted a representative of France's Framatome as saying that he expected all contracts be signed between September 15 and 20.
The report added that diplomats said they did not expect China to slow down its timetable for building the Days Bay plant.
P.20.