DATE=10/1/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=JAPAN / NUCLEAR
NUMBER=2-254544
BYLINE=KARRIN AMODEO
DATELINE=TOKYO
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Japanese authorities say the atomic
reaction at the heart of the nation's worst ever
nuclear accident is under control. Karrin Amodeo
reports from Tokyo, local residents within a ten
kilometer radius of the site are now being
allowed to leave their homes, after being
restricted indoors since Thursday evening
TEXT: Officials say radiation levels in all but
two spots near the accident have returned to
normal. Radiation readings had soared up to 20-
thousand times the usual level after Thursday
morning's accident, at a privately-owned uranium
processing plant in Tokaimura, 110 kilometers
northeast of Tokyo. Workers accidentally pumped
too much liquid uranium into a tank of nitric
acid while making nuclear fuel.
This led to Japan's first ever self-sustaining
nuclear fission chain reaction. Nuclear fission
is the principal behind the atomic bomb. When
nuetrons hit uranium, atoms split and huge
amounts of energy and radiation are released. The
Tokaimura plant was not designed to contain this
sort of accident.
News of the disaster was slow to emerge. The
owners of the plant waited one hour before
informing local authorities about the mishap. And
it took most of Thursday for the government to
fully assess the situation.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka
acknowledged Friday that the government response
to the nuclear accident was too slow. He added it
is shameful that such an accident could occur at
all, in a modern nation.
The accident is the latest in a series of mishaps
that continue to plague the nuclear industry
here. The Tokaimura complex has been the scene of
several accidents in recent years. Following
Thursday's explosion, at least 55 people were
exposed to radiation, including two workers who
remain in a critical condition.
Japan relies heavily on nuclear power because it
is poor in natural resources. Fifty-one atomic
plants provide one third of the country's
electricity. Yet environmentalists say the
nuclear industry here has no culture of safety.
A top official at the Ministry of International
Trade and Industry says Japan should reconsider
its nuclear power policy because the accident was
so serious.
NEB/KA/FC
01-Oct-1999 04:07 AM LOC (01-Oct-1999 0807 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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