Papers on 3 JCO officials, company sent to prosecutors

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

Papers on 3 JCO officials, company sent to prosecutors

MITO, Japan, Nov. 1 (Kyodo) - Police on Wednesday sent papers on 
three employees of JCO Co. and the company to prosecutors on 
suspicion the nuclear-fuel processing firm illegally changed 
production procedures at its plant in Tokaimura, Ibaraki Prefecture, 
the site of Japan's worst nuclear accident. 

Kenzo Koshijima, 54, former head of the plant at the time, Hiromasa 
Kato, a 61-year-old former chief of the production department, and 
former planning group leader Hiroyuki Ogawa, 43, are suspected of 
violating the Law on the Regulation of Nuclear Source Material, 
Nuclear Fuel Material and Reactors. 

The three employees of JCO, a subsidiary of Sumitomo Metal Mining 
Co., are among six company officials arrested last month on suspicion 
of negligence resulting in the deaths of two plant workers in the 
accident, which occurred Sept. 30 last year in the village 120 
kilometers northeast of Tokyo. 

The nuclear fission chain reaction was triggered when workers poured 
an excessive amount of uranium solution into a processing tank by 
using buckets, bypassing several required steps. 

In 1993, JCO began using illegal methods to process uranium, police 
said. Koshijima and others approved the procedures at an in-house 
safety committee in 1995, leading to compilation of an unofficial 
manual in 1996 that recommended the use of buckets to make the 
solution. 

Operators of nuclear facilities are required by law to obtain 
approval before changing production methods, but JCO did not seek or 
obtain any, investigators said. 

The Mito District Public Prosecutors Office is expected to indict the 
three on charges of negligence resulting in the two deaths and 
violating the law regulating nuclear reactors. 

The two JCO workers -- Hisashi Ouchi and Masato Shinohara -- died in 
December and April respectively from radiation sickness. At least 438 
people were exposed to higher-than-normal levels of radiation in the 
accident.

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Sandy Perle					Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100   				    	
Director, Technical				Extension 2306 				     	
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Costa Mesa, CA 92626                                      

Personal Website:  http://sandyfl.nukeworker.net
ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com

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