:
CONFIDENTIAL
GUANGDONG NUCLEAR POWER STATION PROJECT
ANNEX A
Background
1.
In 1980 China Light and Power Co Ltd (CLP) and the Guangdong Electricity
Company of the People's Republic of China conducted a joint study on the feasib-
ility of constructing and operating a nuclear power station in Guangdong, part
of the output of which would be sold to Hong Kong in February 1980. Ministers
approved a continuing UK industrial and official involvement in the study, and
gave their support in general terms subsequently to the Chinese and to CLP.
Ministers have also agreed that since China is a Nuclear Weapons State we should
not seek to insist upon the application of safeguards, but that we should seek
assurances that equipment and materials will not be diverted to military use nor
re-exported without prior consultation and will receive adequate physical
protection.
2. The study, was formally given to the Chinese in December 1980 and is now
under consideration in Peking. The study concluded that it is feasible for the
Guangdong Electricity Company (GEC) and CLP jointly to construct and operate a
2 x 900 MW PWR station some 30 miles north-east of Hong Kong, the foreign
exchange cost of which would be met from electricity sales to Hong Kong.
project is being weighed by the Chinese against the alternative possibility of
developing hydro-electricity in other areas of China.
This
3. There can be no certainty that the Chinese will proceed with the project.
The suspension of a number of capital construction projects and announcement of a
more rigorous policy of retrenchment suggests that they will approach it with
caution. We must nevertheless work on the assumption that the project will go
ahead. In that event it would offer the prospect of substantial commercial
benefits to UK industry.
further cooper
It would also lead to further close relations. between
CONFIDENTIAL