TNAG-1498-FCO40-2056-Guangdong-nuclear-power-station-project-at-Daya-Bay-safety-c-1986 — Page 59

A round-up of media reports on the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant (12.6.86 18.6.86)

Thursday, June 12: Chinese Vice-Premier Li Peng said in London that the Soviet nuclear accident would not change China's plans to build a nuclear plant at Daya Bay, the papers reported. He stressed that China attached the greatest importance to safety measures and that the design of the Daya Bay plant was completely different from that of the Chernobyl plant.

Friday, June 13: The SCM Post reported that anti-nuclear activists were preparing to step up their campaign against the construction of the Daya Bay plant. They were responding to comments by Chinese Vice-Premier Li Peng, who said the construction schedule of the plant would not be delayed and its location would not be changed. A member of the newly formed Joint Conference for Shelving the Daya Bay Nuclear Plant, Wong Wai-hung, said the opposition campaign might include further seminars and the distribution of pamphlets to educate the public on the dangers of nuclear energy. The anti-nuclear group had collected 40,000 signatures since Sunday as part of a massive drive against Daya Bay.

According to the paper, a senior official of the People's Insurance Company revealed on Wednesday that public liability insurance problems relating to Daya Bay were now being finalised. The official told a press briefing in the Chinese capital that the company was only discussing accident insurance for the construction period of the plant and marine insurance to cover the transportation of equipment. With construction not yet under way, the company would not be introducing public liability insurance until a later date.

In a separate report, the Post said the HK Yip's Children's Choir had cancelled a trip to Finland because of parents' fears about fallout from Chernobyl.

A letter, by Lau Ong-hi, in the Post suggested a debate on TV by those who were in favour and those who were against the Daya Bay plant. There should then be a plebiscite to decide for or against it.

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In another development, two members of the Yau Ma Tei DB issued a joint statement at yesterday's board meeting expressing concern over the safety of the Daya Bay nuclear power plant, several papers

said in reported. The two DB members Joseph. Chan and Lai Wing-tak the statement that they were reflecting residents' worries about the safety of the plant. They said that no plant could be 100 per cent safe. Legco Unofficial Jackie Chan, who attended the DB meeting, felt that the Government was more concerned with the economic rather than the safety aspect of the N-plant in the initial stages of the project. He hoped that the nuclear project would be resited or constructed underground.

A by-lined article in the China Environmental Journal said that people should not mix up nuclear plants with atomic bombs because the basic structures of the two things were different, a few papers reported, quoting a China News Service despatch from Peking.