Re: Japanese Accident

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@ix.netcom.com>]

This is from the morning news wire:
-------------------------
  TOKYO, March 11 (Reuter) - Ten workers at a nuclear fuel  
reprocessing plant north of Tokyo were exposed to radiation 
after a small fire broke out on Tuesday morning, the operator of the
plant said. 
  The 10 employees were not injured but were exposed to ``an  
extremely, extremely small amount'' of radiation and were being 
examined, a spokesman for the Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel 
Development Corp's (PNC) told Reuters. 
  The fire at the Tokaimura plant in Ibaraki Prefecture, north  
of Tokyo, broke out at 10.08 a.m. (0108 GMT) but was 
extinguished about 15 minutes later, the spokesman for the 
state-run firm said. 
  A small amount of radiation were released into the  
environment, he said. 
  ``The precise amounts have not been determined, but fall  
well within established safety parameters for radiation 
releases,'' he said by telephone. 
  The PNC could not provide any information on the impact on  
the firm's operations or the cost of the damage until an 
investigation was completed, he said. 
  Operations have been suyspended at the PNC's a prototype  
fast-breeder reactor, ``Monju,'' since an accident in December 
1995 when sodium coolant leaked from the reactor. 
  No damage was caused to the environment in that incident,  
but the operators are still investigating the cause. 
  Revelations of an attempt to cover up the scale of the  
incident increased public distrust of Japan's nuclear policy, a 
sensitive issue in the only country to suffer atomic bombing. 
  Tuesday's fire occurred just several hours before a Japanese  
power company announced it had scrapped a plan to build a 
nuclear power plant on the southern main island of Kyushu. 
  A spokesman for Kyushu Electric Power Company, one of  
Japan's 10 power companies, said it abandoned a plan to build a 
nuclear plant in the southern Japanese city of Kushima because 
of strong local opposition. 
  The decision over the proposed Kushima plant follows Japan's  
first local referendum held over the controversial issue of 
nuclear power plants. 
  Last August, the small town of Maki in northern Japan held a  
referendum on Tohoku Electric Power Company's plan to build a 
nuclear power plant and voters returned a majority ``no'' vote. 
  Also on Tuesday, the Federation of Electric Power Companies  
(JFNL) and Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd said in a joint statement that a
British freighter carrying about 20 tonnes of radioactive waste from
France would arrive at a port in northern Japan on March 18. 
  The toxic waste, carried by the Pacific Teal, is due to  
arrive at Mutsu-Ogawara port on the northern tip of Japan's main
island of Honshu, an industry group confirmed. 
  The port is within the reprocessing plant complex at  
Rokkasho village in Aomori Prefecture, which is operated by 
JNFL. 
  The cargo, which has drawn protests from countries along the  
seas route, is the second shipment of nuclear waste being 
returned to Japan after processing by French state company 
COGEMA. 
  Environmental and protest groups plan to camp out near the  
complex on March 17 to protest against the arrival of the vessel the
following day, a Greenpeace spokesman said. 
  Japan relies on nuclear reactors for about 32 percent of its  
electricity needs and currently ships the bulk of its nuclear 
waste to Europe to be reprocessed. 

------------------
Sandy Perle
Technical Director
ICN Dosimetry Division
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Office: (800) 548-5100 x2306 
Fax:    (714) 668-3149
  
mailto:sandyfl@ix.netcom.com
mailto:sperle@icnpharm.com

Personal Homepages:
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/1205 (primary)
http://www.netcom.com/~sandyfl/home.html (secondary)

"The object of opening the mind as of opening 
the mouth is to close it again on something solid"
              - G. K. Chesterton -