Japan Official Quits Over Nuclear, Rocket Mishaps

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>]

Saturday November 20 4:42 AM ET 

Japan Official Quits Over Nuclear, Rocket Mishaps  

TOKYO (Reuters) - A top official at Japan's Science and Technology 
Agency resigned on Friday to take responsibility for the country's 
worst-ever nuclear accident in September and the costly failed launch 
of a rocket this week.  

The resignation of Toshio Okazaki, vice minister of the agency, 
showed he saw a need for organizational reform in order to improve 
the agency's functions, agency chief Hirofumi Nakasone told a news 
conference.  

``Of course I believe the entire government has a considerable 
responsibility,'' added Chief Cabinet Secretary Mikio Aoki.  

The news came as details emerged of a deterioration in the already-
critical condition of a worker at the uranium processing plant who 
suffered the highest exposure to radiation during the accident in 
Tokaimura, 87 miles from Tokyo.  

Doctors treating Hisashi Ouchi said on Friday that his condition had 
worsened still further and he had begun bleeding from his bowels.  

They added that he continued to lose body fluids through his skin, 
which was severely burned, and that they had attempted a skin 
transplant with cultured skin.  

``At this point, though his vital signs such as blood pressure and 
heart rate are stable, his overall condition has grown worse and the 
prognosis remains unpredictable,'' they said in a statement.  

The government has come under fire for lax supervision and inept 
response to the nuclear accident which exposed about 70 people to 
radiation, including two now in critical condition.  

The accident, which occurred when workers ignored proper safety 
procedures and triggered a nuclear chain reaction, or criticality, 
was ranked four out of seven on an international scale of nuclear 
events.  

Adding insult to injury was the failure on Monday to launch the 
Japanese H-2 rocket carrying a multi-purpose satellite for aviation 
control and meteorological observation.  

It was Japan's second failure to place a satellite into geostationary 
orbit in nearly two years. In February 1998, an H-2 failed to 
properly launch a satellite, wasting an estimated 60 billion yen.  

Nakasone had said the launch failure has threatened international  
confidence in Japan's technology. 

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Sandy Perle					Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100   				    	
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