Radiation Accident in Japan -- IAEA information

["J. J. Rozental" <josrozen@netmedia.net.il>]

Dear coleagues, this is press release from IAEA. 



http://www.iaea.org/worldatom/Press/P_release/1999/japan_incident.shtml
                    Radiation Accident in Japan



 Japanese nuclear authorities informed the International Atomic Energy
Agency on 30 September 1999 of an accident occurring at a uranium processing
facility at the Tokai-mura nuclear complex. The IAEA has maintained
continuous contact with Japanese nuclear  authorities and the facility
operator as to the accident’s causes and consequences, and attendant
emergency response measures. IAEA Director General Mohamed El Baradei has
offered the Japanese Government the services of an IAEA expert team which
would be ready to go to Japan immediately to assess the situation.

 Information provided to the IAEA by Japanese authorities – as of 11 pm
Vienna time on 30 September -- included the following points:

 The accident occurred 30 September at 10:35 am Japan time at the Experimental
 Conversion Facility at Tokai-mura. The cause of the accident remains under
 investigation, though it is known that it occurred when workers were
transporting a mixture of liquid nitric acid containing 19% enriched uranium
to a precipitation container. A "flash criticality" occurred, an indication
of a self-sustaining nuclear chain  reaction, resulting in severe radiation
exposure of workers. At its highest point, the  dose rate at the facility
boundary was measured to be around 4 millisievert/hour. As of 4am local
time, the measured dose rate was decreasing, though it remained high in the
vicinity of the facility and indicated that the chain reaction was continuing.
    Mitigation measures included draining water from the precipitation
container. 

                           At least two workers were exposed to radiation
doses as high as 8 sievert, a level that  can lead to fatality. Another
worker has been seriously exposed. Two of the three   workers are known to
have received potentially fatal doses. All are under medical care and
treatment. An additional 21 persons were exposed to lower doses and are
under medical evaluation. 

                           · As part of emergency response measures, access
to the uranium facility has been restricted at a radius of 200 meters.
Additionally, authorities have established a 350-meter evacuation zone
around the facility. Persons residing within 10 kilometers of the facility
are being advised to take shelter until tomorrow and local transportation
has been stopped. The Japanese Government has established an Emergency Task
Forcein response to the accident. 

                      The IAEA will be providing further information as it
is received from the Japanese Government.

====================================
Please GO TO

The International Nuclear Event Scale  For prompt communication of safety
significance to exercise the imagination to characterize  this type of event
http://www.iaea.or.at/worldatom/inforesource/factsheets/ines.html


J. J. Rozental
josrozen@netmedia.net.il
Israel
        
jjrozental

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