Tokaimura is being shut down, not because they killed "only" two persons, but because their repeated gross violations of basic safety procedures caused the loss of public acceptance.
We should be demonstrating that we meet the highest standards, not whining for the right to be as careless as someone else.
Our critics make us stronger.
Our "friends" will put us out of business.
The opinions expressed are strictly mine.
It's not about dose, it's about trust.
Curies forever.
Bill Lipton
liptonw@dteenergy.com
"Franta, Jaroslav" wrote:
Just last week there was another news report about the Tokaimura criticality accident.
Last Friday's NG blast in Toronto killed more than three times as many people, but I doubt you'll hear about it four years later, or that there will be any impact on the Canadian (or any other) NG industry....- - - - - -
WNA News Briefing 03.16 (for the period 16 - 22 April 2003)
[NB03.16-5] Japan: JCO Co has abandoned plans to restart its uranium conversion facility in Tokaimura, the site of a criticality accident in September 1999. The move follows the recent court ruling that found the company and six of its employees guilty of neglect that led to the death of two of its workers. The company - a subsidiary of Sumitomo Metal Mining Co - had been trying to gain regulatory approval to reopen its fuel processing facility since being stripped of its licence to operate the plant in March 2000. (Ux Weekly, 21 April, p4; also News Briefing 03.09-3)- - - - - -
Jaro
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Sunday, Apr. 27, 2003
Service held for gas explosion victims
Canadian PressToronto - Family and friends gathered in Toronto Sunday for a memorial
service for the victims of last week's natural gas explosion at west-end strip mall.
A Toronto fire chaplain presided over the private service, also attended by
police, fire and search and rescue personnel.
"It was good to have a little reflection, take a few moments to recognize
the fact of the losses," said acting fire supervisor Bill Hiscott.
Seven bodies, whose identities have not been released, have been pulled from
the wreckage of the crater-like depression that was once a two-storey strip
mall. It was levelled when a work crew severed a gas main.
Search crews continued combing through the charred debris on Sunday.
Officials said the existence of more victims can't be ruled out until the
blast zone has been completely excavated.
On Saturday, recovery crews pulled the body of what they hoped to be the
final victim of a violent explosion and fire that destroyed a west-end strip mall last week.
The crews made the grim discovery of the seventh victim Saturday. Officials
have been combing through the debris in search of human remains since the Thursday blast.
The explosion completely demolished the mall housing four retail businesses
and five apartments.
Investigators have not ruled out the chance that there may have been more victims.
"Two of the businesses were open and they were commercial operations. There
may be the possibility of others," said Bill Hiscott from the Ontario Fire Marshal's Office.
The bodies of four females and one male that had already been pulled from
the charred debris were to be autopsied Saturday, police said.
None of the victims' identities have yet been released. Some of the remains
pulled from the site were so badly charred that experts would have to use
dental records to positively identify them.
Firefighters searching the wreckage discovered the first body just before 3
a.m. Friday. The second and third bodies were found later in the morning
when the search resumed in daylight hours. The fourth victim was located in
the afternoon and the fifth was uncovered Friday night.
Recovery crews initially had trouble removing victims from the rubble
because of the unstable disaster site, said Mr. Hiscott. "As we dig up the
debris, some of it is still smouldering very slowly and as we give it a bit
of oxygen it's going to start to burn again," he said.
The violent blast also tore a hole in the side of a two-storey home beside
the complex and blew out windows in businesses across the street. It is
thought that a city work crew accidentally severed a gas line.
The investigation was expected to continue into next week.
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