TNAG-1658-FCO40-2306-Daya-Bay-nuclear-power-station-project-safety-concerns-in-Ho-1987 — Page 218

with France, Western Germany and the United States. Dr.

Blix continued by saying as far as the Daya Bay plant

itself was concerned this was essentially a derivative of

the standard French 900 MW unit which had, to date,

operated with a very successful track record.

13.

Continuing, Dr. Blix said that, in terms of the world's overall reactor experience, cumulative operating experience now amounted to more than 4000 years. Ignoring Chernobyl, which involved a reactor of unique Soviet design

and which the British had reportedly earlier warned the

Soviets had certain design deficiencies, there had not been

a single death associated with radiation accidents at

nuclear generating plants. On Chernobyl, Dr. Blix, who had

flown around the Chernobyl power station 10 days after the

accident, said that the Soviet Authorities had been very

shocked by the accident and had implemented a programme of

measures to be adopted at other similar stations throughout

the Soviet Union to ensure such an accident could not

happen again. Dr. Blix concluded his remarks on nuclear energy as a means of producing electricity by stating that by everyday standards the risks associated with operating

nuclear plants were generally considerably lower than those

associated with many other everyday activities. Moreover,

the argument that there was a serious problem concerning

nuclear waste disposal was not really the case.

Meeting with the LegCo Ad Hoc Group

14.

Miss Tam accompanied Dr. Blix and

Mr. Skjoeldebrand to the OMELCO Building. They were

greeted by the Vice Convenor of the Group, Mr. Chung

Pui-lam, and the OMELCO staff. Mr. Chung explained that

the Convenor, Mr. Wong Po-yan, was away in the United

States. He then introduced the LegCo members present: Mr.

CHENG Hon-kwan, Dr. Conrad Lam, Mr. Hilton Cheong-Leen,

Mr. Jackie Chan, Mr. Lee Yu-tai, Mr. NGAI Shui-kit and Mrs.

Pauline Ng.