[LINK] Nuclear power stations.

[stephen at melbpc.org.au]

Tom writes,

> While I am not a supporter of nuclear power, the engineers appear
> to have done a reasonable job ...


Thursday, September 30, 1999

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/461446.stm

Nuclear accident shakes Japan (1999)


Japan is facing an unprecedented nuclear emergency .. Radiation levels
at the Tokaimura nuclear fuel-processing plant in north-east Japan are 
15,000 times higher than normal. 

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka told an emergency news conference,
"It's very likely that there had been a criticality incident at the plant"

Criticality is the point at which a nuclear chain reaction becomes self-
sustaining. The cause of the leak was not immediately known. 

The environmental organisation Greenpeace criticised the accident as a 
symptom of a safety "crisis" in Japan's nuclear industry.

"Today's accident at Tokaimura confirms our fears - the entire safety 
culture in Japan is in crisis." Greenpeace International Shaun Burnie 
said.

History of Accidents

Tokaimura was the site of Japan's worst nuclear plant incident in 1997, 
when 35 workers were contaminated by radiation after a fire at a 
processing plant was not extinguished properly and caused an explosion. 

A series of incidents at Japanese nuclear power stations in recent years 
has undermined confidence in the safety of this form of energy production 
says BBC Tokyo correspondent Juliet Hindell. 

In July, cooling water leaked from a pipe in the building that houses the 
reactor at the Tsuruga nuclear power plant in northern Japan. 

Executives in charge of the reactor said radiation from the leak was 
11,500 times the safety limit.  

The earlier figure given was 250 times the limit, and the change has 
sparked accusations of a cover-up ..

1990's Japanese Nuclear Incidents:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/460000/images/_461931_japan_nuke_fctbx.gif
--

Now ..

With respect, to the Japanese people, the Secretary General of the IAEC
is Japanese and gained his position after intense Japanese Gov lobbying.

And, WHY should the Japanese government lobby so hard for this position?


Regards,
Stephen