DATE=10/5/1999
TYPE=U-S OPINION ROUNDUP
TITLE=LESSONS FROM A NUCLEAR DISASTER
NUMBER=6-11501
BYLINE=ANDREW GUTHRIE
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
EDITOR=ASSIGNMENTS
TELEPHONE=619-3335
CONTENT=
INTRO: Just as U-S newspaper editorials were busy
commenting on the lessons to be learned from the
nuclear processing plant disaster in Japan, news of
another nuclear accident flashed around the world.
The latest mishap occurred in a South Korean nuclear
power plant, when a leak of heavy water contaminated
22 workers with low-level radiation.
As for the more serious Japanese accident, which may
take the lives of the two most seriously exposed
workers, American daily papers are having plenty to
say about how it happened, and how such incidents
should be prevented in the future.
Now here is ___________ with a sampling in today's U-S
Opinion Roundup.
TEXT: In what was widely reported as the worst
accident in Japan's troubled history with nuclear
power, a group of workers violating the plant's own
regulations, caused an out-of-control chain reaction.
It happened as they were mixing almost 16 kilograms of
uranium into a purification tank holding nitric acid.
They were supposed to have put in only two-and-one-
third-kilos. The mistake caused a flash of blue light
inside the plant, and spewed dangerous levels of
radiation into the air.
One or two of the workers closest to the scene of the
accident may die of radiation poisoning. Others were
injured, and more than 300-thousand residents of the
surrounding area were evacuated.
Many U-S papers are suggesting the accident should be
a warning for increased vigilance in all operations
dealing with radioactive materials. We begin our
sampling in Utah, where The [Salt Lake City] Deseret
[pron: `DEZ-uh-ret] News notes:
VOICE: At the heart of the Japanese nuclear
disaster ... is a lesson as old as the workplace
itself -- don't cut corners when it comes to
safety. Had officials at the uranium processing
plant not printed a manual that directed
employees to use [the wrong size and shape of]
stainless-steel buckets to mix a dangerous
solution, 49 people would be healthy today,
rather than suffering from radiation poisoning.
Not only that, an entire nation would not be
feeling shame and disbelief. ... Using the safe
method, it would [have] take[n] three hours to
prepare the uranium. The quick, slap-dash
method took only 30 minutes, but at an enormous
cost. ... Most people who cut corners are guilty
of neglect and foolishness. But administrators
who deliberately direct employees to cut corners
in the name of profits or efficiency are guilty
of much more. Their corner-cutting is criminal.
// OPT // The world has seen plenty of this
recently. Thousands of people died in
earthquakes in turkey because builders cut
corners as they constructed housing
developments. Not too long ago, building-code
violations were blamed for helping Hurricane
Andrew devastate much of southern Florida. ...
One can be assured that nuclear plants in Japan
will carefully follow approved procedures from
now on. The question remains, however, whether
Americans of all professions, watching from
afar, will learn the same lesson before it's too
late. // END OPT //
TEXT: Florida's Miami Herald breathes a sigh of
relief in this editorial, as it gleans the lessons to
be learned.
VOICE: Undoubtedly the accident that spewed
high levels of radiation into the air north of
Tokyo could have been worse. Chernobyl was
[worse] -- much worse. That said, what happened
at Sumitomo Metal Mining Company, a uranium
processing plant, was bad enough. Bad enough to
deliver lethal doses to the three workers
involved, endanger 50 others, shut neighboring
schools, highways and factories and quarantine
300-thousand people. Equally troubling was the
immediate reaction of the Japanese government.
... By all accounts, the emergency response was
confused and uncoordinated. [What is] worse,
Japan's chief of natural Resources and Energy,
Hirobumi Kawano, dismissed concerns about the
country's nuclear-energy program, telling
reporters there is no need to re-examine
safety measures. That's outrageous.
TEXT: On New York's Long Island, Newsday is calling
for more vigilance on the part of the worldwide
nuclear power industry following the Japanese
accident.
VOICE: With no fossil-fuel resources to speak
of, Japan is heavily dependent on nuclear power.
So the corner-cutting that apparently caused the
country's worst nuclear accident last week was
doubly inexcusable. ... Judging by Japanese
press accounts, the handling of nuclear
materials at the plant was reckless almost
beyond belief. ... Americans, of course, would
like to believe that no such lapse could ever
happen here. But when the penalty for stupidity
or sloppiness is potentially severe, a hard look
at U-S nuclear processing plants seems more than
justified.
TEXT: Boston's Christian Science Monitor says it is
human nature to become complacent, even when dealing
with potentially life-threatening materials.
VOICE: Human capacity to run such complex,
giant and dangerous technology as nuclear power
requires decades of competence that can easily
slip into hubris. Nuclear accidents in Japan --
and official lying about them -- is quietly
condoned by officials as necessary for energy
independence. But Japan needs another national
goal: a culture of safety in its nuclear plants.
TEXT: In Northern California, The San Francisco
Examiner gives thanks that the mistake was not even
more costly.
VOICE: The accident was not on the scale of
Chernobyl [in Ukraine] or Three-Mile Island [a
power plant in the state of Pennsylvania, where
a damaging accident occurred 20 years ago], but
[it] was frightening enough to make local
officials wonder why those running the plant
waited 58 minutes to notify authorities.
Japan's nuclear overseers must install
safeguards against carelessness and do a better
job protecting people near facilities that
provide a third of the nation's electricity.
TEXT: However, on Hawaii, the U-S island state where
almost of the power sources have to be imported, the
Honolulu Star-Bulletin warns against any emotional
over-reaction to the incident.
VOICE: Reaction to the accident should not be
a hysterical rejection of nuclear power.
Although the accident has shaken confidence in
the safety of nuclear energy, the government of
Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi plans to proceed
with its nuclear program while pledging to
improve its performance on safety. Japan relies
on nuclear energy for one-third of its electric
power generation, and plans to expand the
nuclear industry. By comparison, in the United
States nuclear power generates about 20-percent
of electricity. ... The lesson that should be
learned from this accident is that safety
precautions should be strengthened, not that
nuclear energy should be abandoned.
TEXT: Lastly, the view of The New York Times, that
the Japanese Government needs to learn a harsh and
valuable lesson from this and abandon its past
practices.
VOICE: The Japanese Government, which has been
accused of cover-up tendencies after previous
nuclear accidents, will need to make full and
prompt disclosure of what happened at Tokaiumura
if it is to maintain credibility and salvage its
troubled nuclear industry. For the United
States, the main lesson may lie less in the
particular flaws and errors uncovered at
Tokaimura than in the reminder that it is
alarmingly easy to get into trouble in the
nuclear business the minute one's guard is
lowered.
TEXT: On that note, we conclude this sampling of
comment on the nuclear processing plant accident last
week in Japan.
NEB/ANG/WTW
05-Oct-1999 14:43 PM EDT (05-Oct-1999 1843 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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