TNAG-1501-FCO40-2059-Guangdong-nuclear-power-station-project-at-Daya-Bay-safety-c-1986 — Page 51

· AUG 07 86 14:32 TIB(OOU) HK GOVT

According to press reports, Mr Jacoba said on the programme that if there were compelling evidence or information that the Daya Bay nuclear power plant was unsafe, the Government would be duty-bound to go back to the HK Nuclear Investment Company, the Chinese partners and the Chinese and British Governments.

But he said: "We haven't got such compelling reasons. All we got at the moment is very understandable public reaction to the dreadful event in Chernobyl."

Mr Jacobs stressed that the Government had looked at the project very thoroughly and cautiously before giving its support.

The TV interview was accorded prominent coverage in some papers including Wen Wei Po, Sing Tao Jih Pao and Sing Pao.

In prominent coverage, the papers reported that 12 representatives of the Joint Conference for the Shelving of the Daya Bay Project yesterday asked NCNA officials in HK to make arrangements for them to go to Peking to reflect HK people's concerns over the project.

Radio-1 and some papers said the group had decided to send representatives to Europe and the Philippines to collect information on shelved nuclear plants.

The Oriental Daily News reported that about 40 Labour Party MPs had signed a House of Commons motion calling upon the British Goverment to make representation to the Chinese Government for the resiting of the Daya Bay plant.

Editorially, Ming Pao said that discussions on the nuclear plant issue should be centred on the question of how HK people could be evacuated in case of a nuclear accident. The dispute over the N-plant project could be settled if there was a satisfactory answer to the evacuation question.

HK Economic Journal columnist I Fan said that concessions by China on the N-plant issue would only show that the country heeded local opinions and would not be seen as e sign of weakness.

Ta Kung Pao said that the emphasis of discussions on the N-plant issue had now shifted to better understanding of nuclear energy so that

a judgement could be made on its acceptability.

The Sunday Morning Post headlined that the long-awaited

feasibility report on the Daya Bay muclear plant, contains little information on safety and no reference to contingency measures in the event of a major nuclear accident.

P.11