هیم
GEC should exert pressure upon Framatome to sign the Agreement,
and Mr Benjamin commented that it would be useful to eliminate
the French position following the change in administration. Mr Manzie
then said that there was a case in favour of officials re-opening
talks with the French, but that he would like to consider the matter
later.
Mr Stones then went on to say that the first hurdle that had to be
overcome before any thought should be given as to who the nuclear
supplier would be was the position of GEC and their credibility in
Chinese eyes as being suppliers of a high-speed 900 MW turbine.
Unless these doubts could be resolved, the UK would have no role in
the project. He then said that he was preparing a paper for Chen Gang
and asked GEC for assistance in its preparation. A further difficulty,
which was endorsed by Mr Lippitt, was that e CEGB had decided to
purchase 2 660 MW sets for its own PWR, rather than 1 large high-
speed machine. Mr Lippitt hoped that the presentation in China,
which seemed to have been well received, had reduced Chinese fears.
Replying to Miss Parkin, who suggested that the Chinese might express
their doubts about GEC through particularly stringent contract
conditions relating to performance guarantees, he said that it was
normal for GEC to supply performance guarantees but neither his nor
any other turbine generator supplier could accept consequential risks.
Mr Lippitt then made the poent, strongly supported by Mr Stones,
that it was essential that the UK spoke with one voice on this
project and that numerous visitors to China giving slightly different
views would only lead to confusion and doubt in the Chinese mind.
Unfortunately, some organisations were not adhering to this policy.
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