TNAG-1059-FCO40-1309-Guangdong-nuclear-power-station-project-1981 — Page 71

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BRIEFING FOR

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BRIEFING FOR

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ESSENTIAL FACTS

مسلك

CASTLE PEAK POWER STATIONS

1.

of 20.00?

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16611

GEC and Babcock Power Ltd gained the main contract for the

supply of equipment for the 'A' Station (now about to go on stream).

They have also been awarded the contract for the 'B' Station. This

was agreed earlier this year. Together with the electricity

transmission network (contract awarded to Balfour Beatty), the

deals are worth about £1,000 million at current prices. The DOI

were involved closely in putting together the industrial and

financial packages for both contracts and led the negotiations.

GUANGDONG NUCLEAR PROJECT

LORD KADOORIE north of Hong Kong in China's Guangdong province.

on calcol81

HKK 166/1

2. China Light and Power (CLP) have produced with the Guangdong

Electric Company a feasibility study for a nuclear power station

The study

recommends the construction of a 2 x 900 MW pressurized Water

Reactor; the sale of 50% of the electricity to CLP in Hong Kong;

and preference for UK and Chinese sources of supply where competitive.

GEC hope to secure the turbine contract, but would need to combine

with a nuclear island supplier, in practice either Framatome (France)

or Westinghouse (USA). The commercial benefit to the UK could be

anywhere between £370 million and $600 million.

3.

There is as yet no indication from Peking that a decision

on the project is imminent, nor do we know which nuclear island

supplier might be favoured. One major uncertainty is the position

of the French. The Chinese offered President Giscard a commitment

that France should build the first nuclear power station in China.

In February 1981, Ministers therefore endorsed the view that the

best hope of UK involvement lay in collaboration with the French

/but

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