RE: Brief fire at Japan nuke plant, no radiation

["Franta, Jaroslav" <frantaj@aecl.ca>]

Interesting that Reuters reported this incident - which apparently didn't
harm anyone -- but failed to report the following one, which killed one
worker (can you guess why ?):

The Toronto Star, Thursday 24 February, 2000

MAN KILLED BY LOADER

A 60-year-old man was killed in an industrial accident at a cement company
in Etobicoke yesterday.
Around 10:15 a.m. yesterday, the victim was standing in the rear yard of
Ontario Redimix at 21 Goodmark Place, near Highway 27 and Steeles Ave. W.,
when he was struck by a front-end loader, which was in reverse, and killed
instantly. The name of the victim is being withheld until the family is
notified.
------------------------------------
(as usual, this was not posted on any news web site)

regards,

Jaro
> ----------
> From: 	Sandy Perle[SMTP:sandyfl@earthlink.net]
> Reply To: 	radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu
> Sent: 	Thursday February 24, 2000 10:15 AM
> To: 	Multiple recipients of list
> Subject: 	Brief fire at Japan nuke plant, no radiation
> 
> Brief fire at Japan nuke plant, no radiation
> 
> TOKYO, Feb 24 (Reuters) - In the latest accident involving Japan's 
> troubled nuclear industry, a fire broke out at a power plant but was 
> extinguished after half an hour and there was no danger of radiation, 
> a utility spokesman said on Thursday. 
> 
> The fire at the Onagawa Number One nuclear plant, owned by Tohoku 
> Electric Power Co Inc <9506.T>, occurred in the basement of a 
> building not directly involved in nuclear power generation, the 
> spokesman for the power company said. 
> 
> He said he had no other details about the fire or what had caused it. 
> The 524-megawatt reactor at Onagawa, about 300 km (186 miles) north 
> of Tokyo, was shut down for maintenance on January 17 and was set to 
> resume operations in early April. 
> 
> Last September, Japan was shocked by the nation's worst-ever nuclear 
> accident at a uranium processing plant in Tokaimura, about 140 km (90 
> miles) northeast of Tokyo. 
> 
> That accident, caused by workers putting seven times the proper 
> amount of condensed uranium into a mixing tank, exposed 440 people to 
> radiation, including one plant worker who later died. 
> 
> In a sign of growing public concern about nuclear safety, the 
> governor of Mie Prefecture in western Japan said on Tuesday that a 37-
> year-old plan to build a nuclear power plant in the prefecture should 
> go back to the drawing board. 
> 
> In response, Chubu Electric Power Co said it would scrap the plan. 
> 
> Following fierce criticisms of the government for a slow response to 
> the Tokaimura accident, Japan's parliament last December enacted a 
> set of bills aimed at strengthening nuclear safety measures. 
> 
> The Tokaimura accident, which occurred when workers, ignoring proper 
> safety procedures, used a bucket to transfer uranium and triggered a 
> nuclear chain reaction was ranked four out of seven on an 
> international scale of nuclear accidents. 
> 
> Despite September's accident, the government says resource-poor 
> Japan, whose 51 nuclear reactors provide about 30 percent of its 
> energy needs, will forge ahead with its nuclear power programme, 
> which calls for another 20 reactors to be built by 2010. 
> 
************************************************************************
The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html