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Investigators Arrive at Nuclear Plant
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| By:MARI YAMAGUCHI, Associated Press Writer |
August 10, 2004 |
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Operator of facility in Japan's worst nuclear plant accident delayed safety checks, investigators arrive at site
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MIHAMA, Japan - A corroded cooling pipe that caused Japan's deadliest nuclear power plant accident had not been inspected since 1996, despite a warning last year that it was a safety threat, the plant operator said Tuesday.
The pipe - which carried boiling water and superheated steam - burst at the Mihama reactor on Monday, burning to death at least four workers and injuring seven others, two seriously. No radiation was released, officials said.
The announcement came as dozens of police and nuclear energy officials arrived Tuesday at the plant in Mihama, about 320 kilometers (200 miles) west of Tokyo, to investigate operator Kansai Electric Power on suspicion of negligence resulting in death.
The accident and suspected lapses deepened concerns about the safety of Japan's 52 nuclear plants, which supply about a third of the country's electricity. Two workers died in a radiation leak at a plant northeast of Tokyo in 1999.
It was unclear how the accident would affect the operation of Japan's other nuclear plants. The country's nuclear agency was considering a call for all plants to inspect their cooling pipes, a spokesman said.
Kansai Electric deputy plant manager Akira Kokado said private contractors conducting inspections for the company notified management in April 2003 that the cooling pipe was overdue for a thorough safety check.
Sections of the pipe were last checked in 1996 and deemed safe at that time, said Koji Ebisuzaki, Kansai Electric's chief manager for quality control. Last November, the plant scheduled an ultrasound inspection of the pipe for Aug. 14 - next Saturday.
"We thought we could delay the checks until this month," Kokado told a news conference. "We never expected such rapid corrosion."
The national government - which plans to build another 11 nuclear power plants by 2010 - called for a public investigation of the accident.
"Prime Minister (Junichiro) Koizumi told me it is important that nothing be hidden from the nation," said Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Shoichi Nakagawa.
Officials, however, balanced the call for a public probe with warnings that the accident should not further dim the reputation of nuclear power in Japan.
"Nuclear power has a significant impact in our lives," Koizumi told reporters Tuesday. "We have to pay close attention so that our lives won't be affected by this accident."
Fukushiro Nukaga, the policy chief of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said he was stunned by the sight of the hole in the pipe when he visited the plant Tuesday and vowed to increase checks on aging reactors.
"I don't understand why this could not have been detected earlier," he said. "Many other nuclear plants have been operating for over 30-40 years. We have to review the safety standards of these plants."
Kyodo News service said the country's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency had ordered four power companies to check nuclear plant cooling systems for corrosion. The report, citing unidentified officials, said plants failing the tests would be temporarily shut down.
An agency spokesman, however, denied that such an order had been issued.
Monday's leak resulted in a lack of cooling water in the reactor's turbine. After the accident, Kansai Electric officials found a hole in a condenser pipe. The water flowing through the pipe was about 150 degrees Celsius (300 Fahrenheit).
The plant's No. 3 nuclear reactor automatically shut down when steam began spewing from the leak. Its two other reactors were operating normally.
Although the burst pipe had originally been 10 millimeters (0.4 inch) thick, the pipe had eroded to as thin as 1.5 millimeters (0.06 inch) in the 28 years since the reactor was built in 1976.
An ultrasound test might have detected the thinning, but Kansai never carried out such inspections, Kokado said.
Kansai revamped its safety guidelines after the United States suffered a similar accident at the Surry nuclear power plant in southern Virginia in 1986. Four people died in that accident.
The Mihama accident followed a string of accidents, leaks and other safety lapses at Japanese nuclear power plants, and was clearly troubling to some residents in the area.
"I trusted the company's safety measures, but I was wrong," said Takashi Tojo, 65, from the neighboring town of Tsuruga. "I understand there is a risk at any nuclear plant, but we should never allow an accident causing death."
The Mihama deaths also came as Japan is bidding to host the world's first large-scale nuclear fusion plant, the US$12 billion International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor. But the project's sponsors - the European Union, the United States, Russia, Japan, South Korea and China _ remain deadlocked over whether to build the plant in Japan or France.
In Japan's 1999 accident, a radiation leak at a fuel-reprocessing plant in Tokaimura killed two workers and forced the evacuation of thousands of residents. That accident was caused by two workers who tried to save time by mixing excessive amounts of uranium in buckets instead of using special mechanized tanks.
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