TNAG-0640-FCO40-788-Visits-of-nuclear-powered-merchant-ships-to-Hong-Kong-1988 — Page 104

From:

CONFIDENTIAL

CONFIDENTIAL

A M Boardman, Defence Secretariat

TJ David, Esq

MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

Main Building Whitehall London SW1A 2HB

Telephone (Direct Dialling) 01-218-2003

(Switchboard) 01-218 9000

Hong Kong Department

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Whitehall

London SWLA 2AH

Your reference

Our reference

Date

A + R pa

RECE

RES •

31 JANDIT

HKK 175. D/B016/10/607/1/70

27 January 1977

3

من

Dear Tim

VISIT OF THE "OTTO HAHN" TO HONG KONG

2.

Thank you for your letter of 18 January.

(2)

14

2. I am afraid that there is some confusion and a little ignorance over the normal arrangements for muclear powered warship visits to Hong Kong and the applicability of the safety criteria which have been drawn up for use during naval ship visits to visits by civil nuclear powered ships. It may help if I explain the position in a little more detail to prevent any further misunderstandings.

3. The arrangements for the visit of the OTTO HAHN, as for any civil ship, are the responsibility of the Hong Kong Government, and not the Ministry of Defence. This is a fundamental point which does not appear to have been grasped by Drace- Francis. In particular, any safety organisation which may be set up for the visit must be that of the Hong Kong Government, in line with their responsibility for the safety of the general public during the visit. If the Hong Kong Government wish to write a Safety Scheme for the visit using the existing naval safety scheme as a basis, the MOD would be prepared to give advice on how it should be framed, although naturally the final document would not be our responsibility.

4. There is also clearly considerable confusion over the restrictions which currently exist on nuclear powered ship visits to Hong Kong. At the outset, I should stress that such restrictions that do apply under the current NUSAFE arrangements are relevant only to UK/US nuclear powered warship visits. So far as we are aware, there are no similar restrictions applicable to civil ships, but this is entirely a matter for the Hong Kong Government. There is therefore no question of "revising the NUSAFE formula" to accommodate the OTTO HAHN, although we should naturally expect the Hong Kong Government and their advisers, in reaching a decision on visits by civil nuclear powered ships, to take into account the fact that usage of berths by UK/US NPWS is 91 ship-days in any one year, and that civil usage would be additional.

·

A

5. As to what the current restrictions are, the reference in what I take to be an internal US working document to 15 visits per year is very misleading. The permitted usage of the berths in Hong Kong which are cleared to receive NPWs is currently 25%. This was increased from 10% (at which it originally stood) at the specific request of the Americans, who wished to have the option to pay up to

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