Sat, Oct 02, 1999 page5

• Public blasts Japanese officials

  CHAIN REACTION Yesterday's nuclear accident -- Japan's worst ever -- revealed the laxity of the government in preventing and responding to these kinds of crises

  • By Linda Sieg / REUTERS
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  What can go wrong will go wrong.

  That, critics say, is the basic premise forgotten both by the firm which caused Japan's worst-ever nuclear accident and by authorities tasked with preventing and responding to the crisis.

  Lax safety precautions, sloppy company response and tardy notification of authorities in turn unable to respond promptly -- the litany of apparent missteps sounded all too familiar to critics of a nuclear program already plagued by mishaps.

  

  Local police officers in protective gear direct traffic yesterday at an intersection of a blocked road leading to the site of a radioactive gas leak in Tokaimura, northern Japan. The uranium processing facility spewed radioactive gas on Thursday, critically injuring three workers and exposing 49 others inside and outside the facility to radiation.

  PHOTO: AP

  Nuclear experts said JCO Co Ltd, the firm operating the uranium processing plant where the accident occurred, failed at its most fundamental task -- preventing a self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction which releases radioactive energy in an uncontrolled way and dramatically boosts radiation levels.

  Even some activists already suspicious of Japan's nuclear power safety said they were shocked by the latest accident.

  "They did not observe even the ABCs of a safety policy," said Satoko Tanaka, an executive of the Tokyo Housewives Association active in nuclear safety issues.

  "We were worried about nuclear power plant safety and while our attention was on that, we never dreamed something like this could occur at a uranium processing plant," Tanaka said.

  Company officials acknow-ledged that workers at the plant, which processes uranium into pellets for use in nuclear power plants, had ignored safety rules set down by the firm itself.

  "We are responsible for the accident, since our employees violated company regulations and the incident was deplorable," Kyodo news agency quoted Makoto Morita, chief of the general affairs department of JCO Co, as telling a news conference.

  Among the mistakes made was the attempt to process 16kg of uranium -- nearly eight times the normal amount -- thus creating a "critical mass" which sparked a nuclear reaction similar to what occurs in a power plant.

  "Whenever we have this type of accident, usually the reason is very simple, very primitive and I guess this was also due to the very primitive mistake of the operators," said Atsuyuki Suzuki, an nuclear expert at the University of Tokyo.

  "What we should do is improve the safety system not only at the facility but the regulatory system itself," he said.

  Media reports also said JCO, a unit of Sumitomo Metal Mining, told the Science and Technology Agency of the accident about 40 minutes after it occurred and notified both the prefecture and village within an hour.

  But Tokaimura and prefectural authorities then apparently took different views of the incident, with the village mayor worried enough to advise people to stay inside while prefectural officials believed there was no health threat, reports said.

  Village officials first issued their warning to stay home to residents just under two hours after the accident occurred.

  Initial reports that radiation levels were seven to 10 times normal soon jumped to news that levels were 4,000 times normal.

  And while officials said on Thursday afternoon that the chain reaction was under control, by evening it appeared that was not the case and the top government spokesman admitted at a late night emergency news conference that it could still be going on.

  The spokesman, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka, said yesterday that the government had misjudged the seriousness of the incident early on and that its first response was too slow.

  "I have no choice but to acknowledge that [the government's response was slow]," Nonaka told reporters. "As a modern nation, it's shameful that this kind of accident occurred."

  Anti-nuclear activists echoed the sentiment and said government regulators must share the blame with the firm.

  "The central government was also slow," said Hideyuki Ban, co-director of the anti-nuclear group Citizen's Nuclear Information Cen-ter.

  "Why? Because they didn't have the correct information so they couldn't respond. Of course the company is responsible, but officials who hand out licenses also share the responsibility," Ban said.

  By yesterday afternoon, officials said the nuclear chain reaction had stopped and later that it was safe for people living in the plant's vicinity to go outdoors.

  Despite the outcry, some experts said authorities had done the best they could and that the seriousness of the accident should not be exaggerated, given that the levels of exposure to radiation for most people were likely to have been relatively low.

  "It seemed confusing, I agree, but I would say that it was sort of an unavoidable situation," the University of Tokyo's Suzuki. "It seemed what the government was doing was the best it could do."
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