667
LB2 AFB
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
Miss R Leigh
c/o Arthur Ingham Esq
South China Morning Post HONG KONG
Dear Miss Leigh,
Thank
you
for
your
Telephone 01-
233 4475
letter
Your reference
Our reference
ра
677
Date
14 October 1986
RECEIVED I
16611
29 OCT 1986
of
8
September
H
TAY
M
Action Taken
to
the
Frime
Minister about the proposed nuclear power plant at Daya Bay. I have been asked to reply.
The
as
is
its
British Government
of conscious very responsibility for the well-being and safety of the people of Hong Kong,
for its
the territory. overall responsibility part of
in The Government has followed very closely expressions of concern Hong Kong about the safety of the Daya Bay project and has relayed this concern to the Chinese authorities.
it has In doing so, stressed the need for them to take steps publicly to allay this concern by demonstrating that the plant will
the plant will be built, operated and
to managed
standards proper
of
The Chinese safety. authorities have recently announced several measures to ensure the safety of their civil nuclear power programme and have emphasised that safety and quality are paramount in their planning.
It
that
measures
China
the
Chinese authorities
received
the
various British
was pleasing that UMELCO delegation before contracts for the project were signed and
has given considerable publicity to the which it intends to implement on safety. The Government feels that these actions on the part of the Chinese authorities indicate that they are indeed taking proper account of the views and concerns of Hong Kong people.
the
UMELCO
Of course, no one can given an absolute assurance that the or conventional, operation of any power
of any power station, whether nuclear will be entirely problem-free; the report of fact-finding team fully recognises this. Against the very low probability of an accident, provided safety aspects are properly
in observed
and
of nuclear the design, construction
operation stations, must
of undoubted benefits
nuclear
power
be set the
power. The British Government, like the Governments of virtually all major industrial countries, is committed to nuclear power to generate part of its energy needs.