TNAG-1776-FCO40-2530-Daya-Bay-nuclear-power-station-project-safety-concerns-in-Ho-1988 — Page 147

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the public are made aware of the main points of the Contingency Plan. The Government should consider how this objective may be achieved.

5.3 Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident

It is clear that in the event of a reactor accident at the Daya Bay plant the reactor operators would be the first people to know of its occurrence. How effective a contingency plan will be depends to a certain extent upon when the Government of Hong Kong are made aware of the accident and its potential consequences for Hong Kong. It is important that the Government of Hong Kong make adequate provision for early warning of any incidents. which may adversely affect Hong Kong. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) adopted a Convention on Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident at a special meeting of the General Conference held in Vienna on 26 September 1986. The People's Republic of China is a signatory to this convention which sets out, inter alia, the information which should be provided by the State in which the accident occurred to those States which are or may be physically affected by a release of radioactive material. The information to be provided is given in Appendix I. Arrangements should be made for at least these data to be provided promptly to the Hong Kong Authorities via a dedicated communications link. Some items of information may take some time to obtain. It is important that the Governments of Hong Kong and the People's Republic of China agree that any relevant information is transmitted promptly without waiting for the collation of all the set of data.

5.4 Emergency Situation Categories

(i)

The IAEA have defined four categories of emergency situations, (ref 11). These are characterised as follows:

Emergency Standby-Appropriate plant personnel are placed on standby, ie they are alerted in order to be in readiness for an emergency situation; appropriate off-site organisations may be put on standby, using notification procedures defined in the Operating Organisation's Emergency Plan.

(ii)

(iii)

Plant Emergency (the consequences of the emergency situation are confined to a section of the plant) On-site personnel are activated and appropriate off-site organisations notified, according to the Operating Organisation's Emergency Plan.

Site Emergency (the consequences of the emergency situation are confined to the site) The personnel on-site are activated and off-site organisations are notified. Some of the latter may be activated. (iv) Off-site Emergency (the consequences of the emergency situation extend beyond the site boundary) The

Overall Emergency Plan is put into effect.

The Governments of Hong Kong and the People's Republic of China should agree on the use of this IAEA classification of emergency situations, and furthermore that Hong Kong will be informed whenever any of these emergency situations is declared, irrespective of whether or not the incident is likely to physically affect Hong Kong. Such co-operation will allow the Hong Kong Authorities, if appropriate, to alert part or all of the emergency organisation. Furthermore it will allow the Hong Kong Authorities to issue authoritative statements, if appropriate, and therefore help prevent the spread of inaccurate rumours which could cause undue concern in some sectors of the community.

5.5 Post Chernobyl Considerations

Many aspects of contingency planning are being thoroughly reviewed by national and international bodies in the light of information about the Chernobyl accident. United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) staff have been closely involved with these reviews. Three important conclusions of relevance to Hong Kong can be drawn from the work done so far:

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