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DSR 11C
on 10 March that the Provincial authorities had approved it
and would shortly be submitting it to the State Council in
Peking.
Strengths and Weaknesses of UK Position
5.
Given the general economic retrenchment in China, there
is no certainty that the project will go ahead at all.
Nevertheless, if the Chinese do proceed there are rosonable
prospects of the UK gaining a major portion of the hardware
orders; CLP favour a substantial UK involvement and we have
certain advantages deriving from:
(a) the Hong Kong connection though which the foreign
exchange costs would be met;
(b) GEC's established position as suppliers to CLP's
conventional power programme.
The Castle Peak B
decision (to be announced on 26 March) will further
strengthen GEC's attraction as a potential supplier
for Guangdong.
The strong points in our position are recognised, and perhaps
even exagerated, by our potential French and American
competitors
There are also some drawbacks. The UK as
yet has no experience in building or operating complete PWR
stations, and GEC would therfore have to enter into some
form of joint venture or agreement with a nuclear island
supplier. Among these the French (Framatome) appear to
have established a favoured position in Peking following
an undertaking to the French president in October 1980 that
France would be the preferred supplier of China's first
nuclear power station. GEC's position is also not as strong
as it might be because they have not previously manufactured
turbines of the type required. Latest indications are however
that a GEC presentation in Guangdong in February was very
/well
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