TNAG-1502-FCO40-2060-Guangdong-nuclear-power-station-project-at-Daya-Bay-safety-c-1986 — Page 152

TOTAL OF 2300 HONG KONG RESIDENTS WERE INTERVIEWED. OF THE 70

PER CENT WERE OPPOSED THE BUILDING OF THE DAYA BAY PLANT, 13 PER CENT FELT THAT THE PROJECT SHOULD BE SHELVED AND ONLY 10 PEP

CENT WERE IN FAVOUP OF THE PROJECT.

3.

;

ALTHOUGH THE ANTI-NUCLEAR GROUPS STILL FOUCHT HARD, THEPE WERE INDICATIONS THAT THE ANTI-DAYA BAY LOBBY WAS LOSING SOME POPULAR SUPPORT BECAUSE OF ITS SCARE TACTICS AND THE SUSPICION

THAT SOME CAMPAIGNERS WERE TRYING TO MAKE POLITICAL CAPITAL CUT OF THE AFFA!?. IN THIS CONNECTION MING PAO EVENING NEWS NOTED

THAT THERE WERE RUMOURS THAT THE LEGCO UNOFFICIAL, MP MARTIN LEE, HAD SOFTENED HIS ANTI-DAYA BAY ATTITUDE. IT WAS SAID THAT MP. LEE

WAS CONVINCED BY A RESPECTED NUCLEAR EXPERT ABOUT THE SAFETY OF

THE PRESSURISED WATER REACTORS DURING HIS RECENT VISIT TO THE

UNITED KINGDOM. NEVERTHELESS, A NUMBER OF NEWSPAPERS, NOTABLY HONG KONG ECONOMIC JOURNAL AND MING PAO, CONTINUED TO PLEDGE

SUPPORT TO THE ANTI-DAYA BAY CAMPAIGN. THEY REGRET THAT THE

CAMPAIGN HAD BEEN FACED WITH COUNTER PUBLICITY WITH THE CAMPAIGNERS

BEING LABELLED AS OPGANISING POLITICAL ACTIVITIES AND HAVING

ULTERIOR MOTIVES.

4.

THE NEW ESTABLISHED PRO-NUCLEAR GROUP COMPRISING 113 MENEERS (FROM DISTRICT BOARDS, URBAN COUNCIL, REGIONAL COUNCIL, REFORM CLUB AND OTHER ORGANISATIONS) CONTINUED WITH THEIR CAMPAIGN. ON 7 AUGUST, THE GROUP DISTRIBUTED LEAFLETS AT VARIOUS LOCATIONS URGING THE PUBLIC NOT TO BE EMOTIVE ON THE DAYA DAY ISSUE. THE GROUP ALSO TOLD THE PRESS THAT THEY WOULD BE SENDING DELEGATES TO STUDY NUCLEAR PLANTS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM, HOLLAND AND FRANCE AT THE END OF THIS MONTH. (THE GROUP INCLUDED SOME PRO-LEFT MEMBERS BUT WE WERE NOT AWARE OF ANY PRC MANIPULATION BEHIND THE GROUP). MEANWHILE, THE MEDIA EXTENSIVELY REPORTED THAT SOME ACADEMICS AND NUCLEAR EXPERTS INCLUDING NOBEL PRIZE WINNING PHYSICIST PROFESSOR YANG CHEN-NING AND DR. VICTOP SIT OF THE HONG KONG UNIVERSITY HAD MADE SOME POSITIVE STATEMENTS ON NUCLEAR ENERGY AND THE DAYA BAY PROJECT.

5. THE UMELCO DELEGATION TO EUROPE, THE UNITED STATES AND JAPAN STAYED IN FOCUS. THE ITINERARIES OF THE DELEGATIONS AND THE SPEECHES MADE BY THE UMELCO MEMBERS WERE EXTENSIVELY REPORTED. THE MEDIA HIGHLIGHTED THAT THE UMELCO DELEGATION TO EUPOPE HAD

VISITED THE GRAVELINES STATION AND HAD MADE SEVERAL FINDINGS. FIRSTLY, THERE WERE TWO DOORS TO THE NUCLEAR REACTORS AND THE KEYS TO THESE DOORS WERE KEPT BY AN APPOINTED OFFICIAL. THIS WAS CONTRARY TO AN ASSERTION BY A CANADIAN NUCLEAR EXPERT, WALTER PATTERSON THAT ACCESS TO A REACTOR WAS UNOBSTRUCTED. SECONDLY, FRANCE POSSED MORE ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY IN THE USE OF PRESSURISED WATER REACTORS AS THE COUNTRY HAD 34 SUCH REACTOPS

AND 30 YEARS' EXPERIENCE IN USING THEM.

THIRDLY, MEASURES AT THE CONTROL POON HAD BEEN IMPROVED FOLLOWING THE THREE MILE ISLAND NUCLEAR ACCIDENT.

2 CONFIDENTIAL

/ FOURTHLY