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contributions to the budget. There was however a genuine feeling in the US that they contributed a substantial proportion of the cash to provide others with a platform for attacking US (and Israeli) policies. He was reasonably confident that the US would maintain their contribution at 25%.
5. Mr Renton expressed interest in Dr Blix's ideas on the expansion of the safeguards' system into verification for nuclear arms control. Dr Blix said that until the CDE agreement, the IAEA had the only internationally agreed system of on-site inspection. It had been in existence for a number of years and there were approximately 200 IAEA inspectors in the field and on-call at the request of member states. He had not developed these ideas very far at present but the IAEA registered and recorded movements of enriched uranium and plutonium and may be in a position to ensure that mateials were not diverted from peaceful use to nuclear weapons production. Mr Renton asked whether the IAEA inspectors had checked the facilities at Chernobyl before the accident. Dr Blix replied that they had been invited to do so but as the reactor was of a type that would not be exported they had decided not to. The fact that they had been invited seemed to discount the theory that the Soviets had been manufacturing weapons grade plutonium at Chernobyl. Dr Blix commented that although the Soviet Union allowed US members of IAEA teams to inspect Soviet Union nuclear facilities, the US did not reciprocate unless the facility to be inspected was of a type that was also manufactured in the Soviet Union. Dr Blix thought it would represent a significant breakthrough if the US could be persuaded to be more forthcoming on this point.
6. On Daya Bay Mr Renton said that the main preoccupation of people in Hong Kong was the question of maintenance of the plant once the French had completed the construction and its engineers had left. Hong Kong, after all, was not the plains of Kiev.
5 million people had nowhere else to go. Furthermore the record of the PRC over maintenance had not been good (eg the car plant at Shanghai). He was sorry that convenient dates had not yet been found for Michael Rosen to visit Hong Kong. Dr Blix asked whether the French were offering continuing assistance. Mr Renton said that he had advised the Hong Kong delegation that this was one of the angles they should be pursuing. It was however a difficult issue for them. Although they would be receiving some 75% of the power generated by the plant it was still clearly on Chinese territory. Dr Blix asked about prevailing wind directions from the plant. If the prevailing wind had been south east instead of north west at Chernobyl the disaster would have been much greater, putting the Kiev water supplies at risk. Mr Wilmshurt said that he understood Daya Bay posed just such a threat to the Hong Kong water supplies. Blix that the IAEA was of course prepared to assist but had to be
very careful. Mr Renton agreed.
Dr
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17.