MR HUM'S VISIT TO WASHINGTON
HONG KONG AND THE ABERCROMBIE AMENDMENT
1. It is extremely unlikely that this will be raised during
Mr Hum's visit, but he might wish to be aware of the
background in case it is.
2.
The Abercrombie Amendment was a proposed amendment to the US Energy Bill. It opposed the passage of shipment of nuclear material through US coastal waters unless they met what we
believe to be excessively high safety standards. We regarded the amendment as going well beyond internationally accepted regulatory standards and cutting across the normal basis for
assessing nuclear safety issues.
3. HMA Washington lobbied the US Senate Energy Committee against the amendment. We understand from the Embassy in
Washington that members of the Senate were, in the event,
unanimous that the amendment should be dropped from the Bill.
Hong Kong
3.
Whilst we were
Hong Kong's involvement was peripheral.
preparing our lobby against the Abercrombie Amendment, newspaper reported that Hong Kong would refuse access to Hong Kong waters to a Japanese a ship carrying reprocessed
plutonium from France to Japan. If this had been the case our
lobby against the Abercrombie Amendment would have been on
thin ice because of Hong Kong's apparent diametrically opposite views. Hong Kong were consulted and wrote to the Japanese Consulate-General in Hong Kong clarifying their views
on the shipment, which are in fact in line with current UK
policy.
ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE AND ENERGY DEPARTMENT
23 SEPTEMBER 1992