THE PRIME MINISTER
10 DOWNING STREET
26 February 1982
Dear Lord Kadoorie,
Ste. (13
On his return from Hong Kong, Michael Jopling told me
of his conversation with you about the Guangdong nuclear
power project, and he mentioned in particular your unease
about the Anglo/American package advocated by the Atomic Energy Authority. I attach special importance to your personal views on this project, and in view of your reported
concern, I asked for a full assessment of the present
situation.
:
I am very conscious of your consistent advocacy of an Anglo/French approach and I myself believe that the
arguments in favour of working with Framatome remain very.
strong. However, I think you will agree that so far we
have had conflicting signals from the Chinese in Peking and
Canton about when they intend to go forward with this
project, and no definitive statement of their preference
as regards a nuclear island supplier. In these circumstances
I believe that it would be wrong for the UK to dismiss the
prospect of working with Westinghouse. I know you have reservations about this option, and fear it may be rejected by the Chinese as unproven. I fully endorse your views that the UK's first priority must be to meet the requirements of the customer. I would not under any circumstances ask you to associate yourself with a proposal which disregards these.
However, in view of the continuing uncertainties in the
situation, I consider it worthwhile for GEC and Westinghouse
together to seek to develop a credible alternative proposal.
/Until