Japan looks at missteps in nuclear accident

[Susan Gawarecki <loc@icx.net>]

Japan looks at missteps in nuclear accident 

By KOJI SASAHARA 

TOKAIMURA, Japan (October 4, 1999 1:45 p.m. EDT
http://www.nandotimes.com) - The government on Monday bolstered its
investigation into shoddy practices at a uranium-processing plant
that set off Japan's worst nuclear accident. 

The three workers responsible for the accident were using
bucket-like containers to mix the uranium and were on the
assignment for the first time. They also skipped some steps to get
the job done as quickly as possible, the national Asahi newspaper
reported Monday. 

The Science and Technology Agency was inspecting the site of
Thursday's accident and questioning officials of JCO Co., the private
company that ran the plant in Tokaimura, 70 miles northeast of
Tokyo. 

The agency also announced plans to search the offices of 20 nuclear
facilities around the country, and the government issued notice that
the operating procedures of all nuclear power companies will be
examined. 

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi asked for tighter emergency safety
checks at all facilities handling nuclear fuel. He also requested a
study on the "proper moral discipline" of employees at nuclear fuel
plants. 

For years, Tokyo insisted its nuclear facilities were far safer than
those in other nations because of Japan's high technology and
meticulous workers. 

Officials have often scoffed at the idea that an accident like the
ones at Chernobyl in the Ukraine or Three Mile Island in the United
States could ever happen here. 

But revelations that corner-cutting led to Thursday's accident have
dampened that sense of infallibility. Workers put in too much
uranium, setting off an uncontrolled atomic reaction that continued
for hours, spurting radioactivity into the air. 

The Tokaimura accident sent the three workers to the hospital - two
suffering potentially lethal doses of radiation. Forty-six other people
were also exposed to radiation. 

JCO, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., has
admitted that it had for years deviated from government-approved
procedures by having its own illegal manual. 

The company was not required to be prepared for possible atomic
reactions because the uranium-processing plant was in principle not
supposed to set any off, Japanese media reports said. 

The atomic reaction, called fission, set off by the accident is similar
to what happens in a nuclear reactor and is the principle behind the
atomic bomb. Processing uranium, if done properly, does not entail an
atomic reaction. 

By using the bucket-like containers instead of more sophisticated
equipment, the mixing could be shortened from three hours to just 30
minutes, the Asahi said, citing a hospitalized worker's statement to
police. 

The company's reaction to the accident also is under investigation. 

Firefighters called in to help injured workers were never warned of a
potential release of radioactivity and went in without protective
gear. Firefighters were among those exposed to radiation. 

The speed of JCO's warning to town officials was also being
examined. According to time lines provided by the company and
Tokaimura municipal officials, nearly two hours elapsed between the
accident and any notice to residents that something was wrong. 

Japanese media reports said JCO knew within the first 10 minutes
that an atomic reaction had begun. 

In Tokaimura, meanwhile, schools filled once again with children and
shops opened for business. 

But signs of the accident remained: Two Greenpeace activists were
testing for radiation outside the hobbled uranium reprocessing plant;
the plant operator held counseling services for worried residents;
farmers feared returning to their fields.
-- 
==================================================
Susan L. Gawarecki, Ph.D., Executive Director
Oak Ridge Reservation Local Oversight Committee, Inc.
136 South Illinois Avenue, Suite 208
Oak Ridge, Tennessee  37830
Phone (423) 483-1333; Fax (423) 482-6572; E-mail loc@icx.net
VISIT OUR UPDATED WEB SITE:  http://www.local-oversight.org
==================================================
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