33. The main elements of the new scheme include: the extension of the normal retirement age from 55 to 60 (serving officers who opt for the scheme may, nevertheless, retain their existing normal retirement age of 55); an adjustment in the earning factor; a deferred pension benefit which will be payable at normal retirement age to officers who resign after completing 10 years or more qualifying service (at present no benefits are payable to those leaving the service before normal retirement age); and an increase in the amount of pension which may be commuted as a lump sum, from 25 per cent to 50 per cent. In addition, the Hong Kong Government proposes to make pensions a right rather than a privilege.
34. Consultation with staff has also begun on a draft compensation scheme which, amongst other things, will enable pensionable overseas officers who are required to retire, or who are superseded for promotion to make way for local officers, to be compensated for loss of career.
DAYA BAY NUCLEAR POWER STATION
35. An issue of major public concern to the people of Hong Kong in 1986 was the proposed construction of a nuclear power station at Daya Bay, in Guangdong Province of the People's Republic of China, some 50 kilometers from Hong Kong.
36. The power station will be built and operated by a joint venture company formed in 1985 following an agreement between the Guangdong Nuclear Investment Company (wholly owned by the Chinese Ministry of Nuclear Industry) and the Hong Kong Nuclear Investment Company (wholly owned by the China Light and Power Company of Hong Kong). The participation of the China Light and Power Company in the project was endorsed by the Hong Kong Government following an evaluation of the options for meeting Hong Kong's anticipated future demand for electricity and some six years of detailed negotiations on the project's feasibility, construction, operation, management and financing arrangements.
37. Before the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power station, the Daya Bay project was generally seen as a positive development which augured well for Hong Kong's future. Inevitably, the events at Chernobyl provoked intense debate in Hong Kong, as elsewhere in the world, on the safety of nuclear power stations. Public concern focussed on the proximity of the station to Hong Kong and the difficulties of evacuating the local population should this prove necessary. Opposition by various pressure groups mounted during the early summer months, culminating in the presentation of a petition to the Chinese Government which, it was claimed, contained one million signatures.
38. The public concern felt in Hong Kong was echoed in a debate in the Legislative Council on 16 July. In August, two fact-finding delegations of Council members visited Europe, the United States and Japan to gain a better understanding of nuclear energy and the safety systems incorporated into the
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