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Top TEPCO official allegedly ordered cover-ups
Index:
Top TEPCO official allegedly ordered cover-ups
Russia Plans 4 New Nuclear Reactors
Labor opposes Australian nuclear waste dump
Science Minister confident of Argentine nuclear waste deal
Hundreds Get Radiation Pills - Cinton, IL
Atomic Bomb Victims Demand Benefits
================================
Top TEPCO official allegedly ordered cover-ups
TOKYO, Sept. 9 (Kyodo) - A top Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO)
official is suspected of having given specific instructions to hide
cracks in two of the 13 nuclear reactors at which false inspection
reports have been filed, company sources said Monday.
TEPCO's in-house investigation committee has obtained evidence that
the official, who had taken charge of the nuclear power division and
is now a board member, ordered plant officials to cover up cracks
found in the 1990s in one reactor at each of the two plants in
Fukushima Prefecture, the sources said.
The head of another nuclear plant in question -- the Kashiwazaki-
Kariwa plant in Niigata Prefecture -- admitted the same day to having
failed to inform the government of indications of cracks found in
1994, 1996 and 1997.
TEPCO, Japan's largest power utility, last month submitted to the
government a list of 29 inspection reports from the late 1980s to the
1990s that may have been falsified. The reports cover 13 of the 17
reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 and No. 2 plants and the Kashiwazaki-
Kariwa plant.
The scandal's revelation late last month forced the company to
announce earlier this month that five of its top management
personnel, including the president and chairman, will resign from
their posts.
The in-house investigation committee has so far interviewed 100
employees and about 30 of them have admitted they were involved in
wrongdoing, such as falsifying inspection reports, according to the
sources.
Of the interviewees, officials who were stationed at the Fukushima
No. 1 plant's No. 2 reactor and the Fukushima No. 2 plant's No. 3
reactor told the committee of the senior official's involvement.
But the official, who was in charge of management of nuclear power
plants at the company's headquarters at that time, is telling the
committee he does not remember exactly what he had said, the sources
said.
According to the sources, the official ordered those involved in the
firm's routine inspections not to conduct any follow-up checks when
cracks were found in 1997 in the shroud of the Fukushima No. 2
plant's No. 3 reactor. The equipment divides nuclear fuels at the
core of nuclear rectors.
Inspectors from General Electric International Inc., the Japan unit
of General Electric Co. of the United States, and TEPCO workers
involved in the inspections had found the cracks and recommended the
firm conduct an ultrasound examination to determine their depths.
''But the senior official at the headquarters gave specific
instructions not to do any ultrasound examination,'' one of the TEPCO
workers was quoted as telling the investigation committee.
Similar cover-up instructions were given several times during the
period between 1998 and 2000 when some types of damage were detected
at nuclear plants, they said.
The committee also found that the management official was involved in
the cover-up of unreported cracks at the Fukushima No. 1 plant's No.
2 reactor core.
When cracks were found in the shroud of the reactor in June 1994, the
company did not report them all to the government. The company
subsequently fixed the cracks and replaced the shroud from 1998 to
1999.
But it hid the replaced shroud by covering it up with sheets when the
government later launched an investigation, having been tipped off by
a whistle-blower.
In Niigata Prefecture, meanwhile, Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant chief
Ichiro Takekuro indicated to reporters that TEPCO had ignored the GE
unit's reports about the indications of cracks at the shroud of the
plant's No. 1 reactor.
TEPCO reported to the government that it had found no problem for all
the 1994, 1996 and 1997 inspections of the shroud, Takekuro said,
hinting that the firm has kept operating the reactor without repairs
for at least eight years.
Given suspicions that cracks at the reactor still remain unfixed, the
utility early this month halted its operations for checks one month
earlier than planned.
According to Takekuro, the firm began inspecting the reactor's shroud
in 1994 but has not checked it since 1998.
In 1997, the GE side notified TEPCO of specific indications of two
cracks of about two centimeters each, he said.
''We are investigating why officials in charge of repairs regarded
the cracks as posing no problem,'' Takekuro said.
Executive Vice President Toshiaki Enomoto, who was visiting the city
of Kashiwazaki to apologize, said that when he heard of the
possibility of cracks as the plant's head in 1996 he failed to
conduct follow-up checks or give such instructions.
Takekuro also said GE International had pointed to slits of 0.5
millimeter and 0.6 mm each at the plant's No. 2 and No. 5 reactors
which are suspected of having unrepaired slits in some pumps.
----------------
Russia Plans 4 New Nuclear Reactors
MOSCOW (AP) - With fears of nuclear energy giving way to concerns
about power shortages, Russia is carrying out an ambitious plan of
putting four new nuclear reactors on line in the next several years,
officials said Thursday.
Rosenergoatom, a state consortium in charge of the nation's nuclear
power plants, plans to launch reactor No. 3 at the Kalinin power
plant in western Russia next year and intends to complete another
three reactors at the Kursk, Rostov and Balakovo plants by 2006, said
its president Oleg Sarayev.
``Atomic energy has a very big potential of growth,'' Sarayev said at
a news conference.
The April 1986 explosion at a nuclear reactor in Chernobyl in then
Soviet Ukraine - the world's worst nuclear catastrophe - caused
strong public distrust of atomic power and thwarted plans to build
new reactors.
But increasingly acute power shortages in post-Soviet Russia have
raised a renewed interest in nuclear power among regional officials
and the population.
``We had Chernobyl, and its burden will stay with us,'' Sarayev said.
But, he added, ``Rosenergoatom has started a new life, linked to the
revival of nuclear energy.''
In March 2001, Russia launched its first new nuclear reactor since
the Chernobyl catastrophe, at a plant in the southern Rostov region.
Rostov's 1,000-megawatt reactor is of the VVER-1000 type that uses
pressurized water to cool its fuel rods instead of the less-stable
graphite used in RBMK reactors, like the one that exploded at
Chernobyl.
Sarayev said Rosenergoatom is working to modernize some of the oldest
of Russia's 30 existing nuclear reactors to extend their lifetime.
Rosenergoatom now accounts for 15.4 percent of Russia's energy
production.
He said the consortium produces energy nearly twice as cheaply as
conventional plants fire by coal or natural gas.
------------------
Labor opposes Australian nuclear waste dump
Sept 6 (Australian Broadcasting Co) - The Federal Opposition says it
would not support the establishment of an international nuclear
waste dump in Australia.
The international nuclear industry association, Arius, says Australia
is the best place in the world to establish such a dump.
But Shadow Environment Minister Kelvin Thomson says Australia should
not agree to be the world's dumping ground.
"We would see waste being transported from a whole range of countries
or sites around the world to Australia and that whole process is
fraught with risk," he said.
"Labor would not be satisfied that you could accomplish something
like that in a safe way and would not support it."
-----------------
Science Minister confident of Argentine nuclear waste deal
Sept 6 (Australian Broadcasting Co) - Australian Science Minister
Peter McGauran says he is confident Argentina's Congress will vote
in favour of accepting spent fuel from a new nuclear research
reactor planned for Sydney.
He bases his optimism on talks he had overnight with members of the
Congress in Buenos Aires.
After dodging a Greenpeace protest, Mr McGauran made it inside the
Argentine Congress to meet with local politicians.
He emerged optimistic the Congress would vote in favour of a treaty
to accept spent fuel from the new Sydney research reactor, although
he admitted it could be a close call.
"There's no doubt there's going to be a significant vote against the
treaty but I am increasingly confident that it will be a minority no
vote," he said.
The treaty has been stalled in the Argentine Congress since last
November and there is no set date for a decision.
But some Argentine politicians believe there will be a vote in the
next two months.
-------------------
Hundreds Get Radiation Pills
CLINTON, Ill. (AP) - A year ago, Charles and Deborah Bateson may have
disregarded a chance to stock up on pills that help block
radiation in case of an accident at the nuclear plant near their
home.
They were among the first to get the pills Saturday.
``The way the world is right now, you never know what's going to
happen,'' Charles Bateson said.
Hundreds of residents within 10 miles of the Clinton nuclear power
plant took advantage of a weekend giveaway of potassium iodide
pills. The pills can block buildup of one type of radiation in the
thyroid gland, but do not guard against other radiation.
Clinton-area residents are the first in Illinois to be offered the
pills by the state Department of Nuclear Safety. The agency later
plans
to offer potassium iodide to residents near Illinois' five other
working nuclear plants.
DNS spokeswoman Patti Thompson said the giveaway allows the
department to address safety and emergency concerns.
Since Sept. 11, federal nuclear regulators have made potassium iodide
available to the 33 states with nuclear plants; three other
states have distributed pills to those who live in the shadow of
nuclear plants. In those states, officials say, between 10 and 34
percent of those eligible chose to stockpile the medication.
On the Net:
Department of Nuclear Safety: http://www.state.il.us/idns/
------------------
Atomic Bomb Victims Demand Benefits
TOKYO (AP) - A group of Japanese atomic bomb survivors applied for
more compensation Friday in a push to win better benefits as
victims of the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki a half-
century ago.
Mostly cancer patients, the 62 survivors from around Japan assert
that Tokyo has shortchanged many victims by excluding them
from payments earmarked for those with lingering symptoms of
radiation sickness.
``This is a new movement because the government needs to recognize
more people,'' said Michiko Kakezuka of the Japan
Confederation of A-Bomb and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, the group
leading the drive.
If their demands are rejected, the applicants may file a class-action
lawsuit against the government, she said.
The government recognizes 285,620 people as survivors of the 1945
U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and has
even given them a special name, ``hibakusha.''
But only 2,000 survivors are recognized with radiation sickness. They
get an enhanced payment of $1,183 monthly.
The rest receive a monthly payment of $290 and are eligible for
numerous benefits, including free medical exams, even if they're no
longer ill.
The difference is based on a government formula for how far away a
person was from ground zero at the time of the blast - a standard
the group called too simplistic.
Last month, 76 survivors from around the country were the first to
apply for larger payments, Kakezuka said.
The government has taken on the task of caring for survivors of the
bomb. Benefits include nursing home care and medical
checkups. When they die, their families are reimbursed for funeral
expenses.
But special relief measures did not begin until 1953 - eight years
after the bombing - and many suffered extreme privation in the
years after the war.
And while researchers have concluded that the bombs have not caused
genetic defects among the children of survivors, some still speculate
that increased cancer rates could show up once the second generation
is over age 50.
Survivors are also tainted by prejudice. In Japan, where it is common
for families to have detectives investigate the past of a prospective
mate, the presence of a ``hibakusha'' in the family tree can sour a
potential match.
-------------------------------------------------
Sandy Perle
Director, Technical
ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Service
ICN Plaza, 3300 Hyland Avenue
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100 Extension 2306
Fax:(714) 668-3149
E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net
E-Mail: sperle@icnpharm.com
Personal Website: http://sandy-travels.com/
ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com/
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