Report says Japanese nuke accident unlikely in U.S.

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>]

"Report" says Japanese nuke accident unlikely in U.S.
  
WASHINGTON, May 8 (Reuters) - Safeguards are in place at U.S. nuclear 
processing sites to prevent the kind of accident that killed two 
Japanese workers last September, the Nuclear Energy Institute said in 
a report on Monday. 

Engineering and procedural safeguards for blending uranium fuel are 
used at all ten nuclear fuel facilities operating in the United 
States, the report said. 

Employees at the Tokaimura, Japan fuel facility triggered a nuclear 
chain reaction by pouring too much highly enriched uranium into a 
mixer. Two workers later died from radiation exposure and hundreds of 
other employees and nearby residents were exposed to elevated levels 
of radiation. 

That kind of accident is unlikely to occur in U.S. facilities, the 
new report found. 

``Safety in operating fuel facilities in the industry's overriding 
focus,'' said John Brons, an executive with the Nuclear Energy 
Institute trade group. ``Workers at these facilities understand that 
they have the authority to stop plant processes for safety reasons.'' 


Brons led the review, along with independent consultant Robert 
Bernero, a former federal nuclear regulator, and James Clark, vice 
president of JAI Corp. The team recommended some training 
improvements for workers at U.S. fuel facilities. 

The United States has five facilities that make low-enriched fuel for 
commercial nuclear plants. They are ABB Combustion Engineering in 
Hematite, Mo; General Electric in Wilmington, N.C.; Westinghouse 
Electric in Columbia, S.C.; Framatome Cogema Fuels in Lynchburg, Va; 
and Siemens Power Corp in Richland, Wash. 

The review also examined two high-enriched uranium fuel facilities 
owned by BWX TEchnologies at Lynchburg, Va, and Nuclear Fuel Services 
in Erwin, Tenn. 

Also included were two gaseous diffusion plants owned by U.S. 
Enrichment Corp in Paducah, Ky and Piketon, Ohio; and Honeywell 
Corp's uranium conversion plant in Metropolis, Ill. 

Nuclear industry experts have blamed the Japanese accident on poor 
training of workers at the plant. Both employees who died had not 
previously handled uranium enriched to 18.8 percent presence of the 
fissionable U-235 isotope.

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Sandy Perle					Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100   				    	
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