MR HUM HKD
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7 AUG 1986
CONFIDENTIAL
DESK OFFICER
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CITO!
B&A
Cu 7/8
FROM:
J K GORDON, NED
DATE: 31 JULY 1986
CC: Dr Wilson
Mr Slater
Mr Masefield (FED
DAYA BAY
1. At the meeting you chaired yesterday I promised to put on paper my suggestions from where we might go next. These are as follows:
2. My main theme was that there was a strict limit to what anybody in the UK could say on the underlying safety of PWRS until the Layfield Report was published, and that this could be delayed until early next year (or later). It therefore made sense to concentrate on ensuring that the Chinese Nuclear Safety Inspectorate was adequate in terms both of size and quality by the time Daya Bay comes on stream in the early 1990s. This is a question for Whitehall as a whole, not just the UKAEA.
3. Key elements will be further analysis of what needs to be done and follow-up action in terms of talking to the Chinese and establishing training programmes. So far as analysis is concerned I suggested that we might commmission a paper from the Nuclear Policy Committee of the Cabinet Office (chaired by Dr Panton). This would need to draw on all available sources, and might well involve prior consultation with the Americans. Its first part would be historical, looking at the existing Chinese nuclear industry and what we know of its safety regulations and record. The second part would look at plans for nuclear development until the late 1990s with special emphasis on the nuclear safety side and on identifying constraints in this area.
I said we needed
4.
to develop consultations with the Chinese. No doubt there are a number of ways ahead; FED will be best placed to advise on these. But two relevant possibilities are:
a)
The visit of Chinese nuclear safety experts to Europe at the invitation of European Commission scheduled for
1
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