TNAG-1500-FCO40-2058-Guangdong-nuclear-power-station-project-at-Daya-Bay-safety-c-1986 — Page 159

JUL 16 '86 16:52 TIBCOOU) HK GOVT

A round-up of media reports on the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant

(3.7.86 - 9.7.86)

dursday, July 31 Chinese Foreign Ministry deputy spokesman Yu Zhizhong, at a press briefing in Peking, stressed that China would pay every attention to safety when developing nuclear energy. When asked whether China had evacuation plans for HK in the event of an accident at Daya Day, he said the conerata question should be referred to tho relevant authorities.

According to Bing Pau, an engineer of the Quangdong Nuclear Joint Venture Company said in the event of an accident at the Daya Bay, the fallout would not be confined to an area at a radius of 10 kilometres from the plant. But in the worst possible situation only people living within 10 kilometres from the plant would mead to ha avarnated.

Ivi

Wing Pau qushed = sput.osman for the Hollval and fall. Dapud humanto as saying that the department had enough resources Lo handle radioactive incident and had no plans to increase staff and facilities of its radiation health unit before Daya Bay started operation. But a spokesman for the unit said the unit could not handle a situation where a large number of people were affected by radioactive particles. The joint conference of groups against Daya Bay would mobilise more than 1,000 people to collect signatures on July 13.

An article in the latest issue of Pai Shing magazine said that the French, during their initial discussion with China, had rejected the choice of Daya Bay as a site for a nuclear power plant because it was lying in an earthquake fault.. They suggested to Chind that a sits 400 kilometres north of Daya Bay be chosen for the project. The extra cost needed for the relocation could be made up by doubling the power tariff. They believed that the people of HK would be willing to pay a higher tariff for the sake of safety. But China rejected the French proposal and even classified information about earthquake risk as top

secret.

Priday, July 4: Reports on the Daya Bay plant wero prominantly covered. The papers quoted the Director of the Chinese Nuclear Safety Bureau, Jiang Shengjie, as saying that HK would not be affected even if there was an accident at the Daya Bay plant. Therefore HK was not included in China's contingency plans. He stressed that China would go ahand with the prajeet even if HK did not buy alaatrialty from the plant. Today's meeting between the Umelco public utilities panel and the three nuclear experts from the Daya Bay project would be open to the press. But anti-nuclear groups said that it would be a one-sided briefing as none of the members of the panel and the press was specialised in nuclear energy.

Meanwhile, Canadian nuclear physicist Walter Patterson, who arrived in HK yesterday at the invitation of the Friends of the Earth, said pressurised water nuclear design was the most dangerous type. FS Piers Jacobs and William Stones of the HK Nuclear Investment Co had turned down invitation by the anti-nuclear joint conference to particulate in a forum tomorrow.

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