As Japan yesterday launched an investigation into the world's worst nuclear accident since the 1996 Chernobyl disaster, the child-like stupidity that caused the accident has left experts stunned.
The professional standards "we are talking about here are those of elementary school children," said Nobuo Oda, an emeritus professor of radiation physics at Tokyo Institute of Technology.
Among the litany of mistakes revealed by officials since Thursday's accident at the processing plant in Tokaimura, 120km northeast of Tokyo:
PHOTO: AFP
* Three workers used steel buckets to pour uranium solution into settling tanks because they were in a hurry. It should have been poured through a reserve tower to be mixed with nitrogen gas and slowly filtered.
* The trio, two of whom had no previous experience in the operation, used 16 kg of uranium, enough for a self-sustaining "criticality" reaction, when the limit was 2.4 kg.
* The company running the plant, JCO Co Ltd, revised its manual in October 1997 without legal approval to allow steel containers to be used in the dangerous operation.
* The government reportedly accepted JCO's application to run the plant even though JCO said there was no need "to prepare for a possible criticality accident" because it would weigh the nuclear material to prevent such a disaster.
Japanese media reported yesterday that one of the workers was found to have been exposed to a shocking amount of radiation -- far in excess of what hospital officials had initially reported.
Hisashi Ouchi had been exposed to about 17,000 times what is normal for annual exposure, a potentially deadly amount, Dr Kazuhiko Maekawa said yesterday.
"It is a lethal dose," said Maekawa, one of the physicians treating Ouchi at Tokyo University Hospital, where he was transferred yesterday.
The government says that 49 people were exposed to the radiation, although Ouchi and two other plant workers were the only ones to require hospitalization.
Amid public anger over how such a potentially devastating mistake could have happened, officials reiterated their promise to get to the bottom of what happened.
"We suspect the operator violated the nation's nuclear energy facilities law," said a spokesman for Ibaraki Police Department.
The Science and Technology Agency separately raided the firm's headquarters in Tokyo and facilities in Tokaimura late yesterday to seize documents.
"I ordered the Science and Technology Agency to carry out a strict inspection," an angry Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi said. "The workers had used their hands and a stainless steel bucket or something. This is inconceivable."
CRITICAL MOVE: TSMC’s plan to invest another US$100 billion in US chipmaking would boost Taiwan’s competitive edge in the global market, the premier said The government would ensure that the most advanced chipmaking technology stays in Taiwan while assisting Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in investing overseas, the Presidential Office said yesterday. The statement follows a joint announcement by the world’s largest contract chipmaker and US President Donald Trump on Monday that TSMC would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next four years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US, which would include construction of three new chip fabrication plants, two advanced packaging facilities, and a research and development center. The government knew about the deal in advance and would assist, Presidential
‘DANGEROUS GAME’: Legislative Yuan budget cuts have already become a point of discussion for Democrats and Republicans in Washington, Elbridge Colby said Taiwan’s fall to China “would be a disaster for American interests” and Taipei must raise defense spending to deter Beijing, US President Donald Trump’s pick to lead Pentagon policy, Elbridge Colby, said on Tuesday during his US Senate confirmation hearing. The nominee for US undersecretary of defense for policy told the Armed Services Committee that Washington needs to motivate Taiwan to avoid a conflict with China and that he is “profoundly disturbed” about its perceived reluctance to raise defense spending closer to 10 percent of GDP. Colby, a China hawk who also served in the Pentagon in Trump’s first team,
SEPARATE: The MAC rebutted Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is China’s province, asserting that UN Resolution 2758 neither mentions Taiwan nor grants the PRC authority over it The “status quo” of democratic Taiwan and autocratic China not belonging to each other has long been recognized by the international community, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday in its rebuttal of Beijing’s claim that Taiwan can only be represented in the UN as “Taiwan, Province of China.” Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) yesterday at a news conference of the third session at the 14th National People’s Congress said that Taiwan can only be referred to as “Taiwan, Province of China” at the UN. Taiwan is an inseparable part of Chinese territory, which is not only history but
INVESTMENT WATCH: The US activity would not affect the firm’s investment in Taiwan, where 11 production lines would likely be completed this year, C.C. Wei said Investments by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in the US should not be a cause for concern, but rather seen as the moment that the company and Taiwan stepped into the global spotlight, President William Lai (賴清德) told a news conference at the Presidential Office in Taipei yesterday alongside TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家). Wei and US President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday announced plans to invest US$100 billion in the US to build three advanced foundries, two packaging plants, and a research and development center, after Trump threatened to slap tariffs on chips made
RSS