- The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency will revise
regulations on coolant water pipes at nuclear plants and write a guideline
in the wake of Japan's deadliest atomic plant accident, agency officials
said Wednesday.
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- Kansai Electric Power Co. President Yosaku Fuji apologizes
Tuesday night to the father of Hiroya Takatori, one of four workers scalded
to death Monday when a corroded steam pipe burst at Kepco's Mihama nuclear
plant Fukui Prefecture, at the victim's wake. Currently, there is no guideline
or standard on how, which parts and how frequently the pipes for the so-called
secondary coolant water must be checked. Nuclear plant operators are only
required to report to the government the results of annual inspections.
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- In Monday's accident at the Mihama Nuclear Power Plant
in Fukui Prefecture, four workers were killed and seven were injured by
superheated steam escaping from a ruptured pipe. The plant's operator,
Kansai Electric Power Co., failed to inspect the pipe during the 27 years
since the reactor began service in December 1976.
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- The safety agency, part of the Ministry of Economy, Trade
and Industry, said it will set up a panel of experts to discuss whether
the government's oversight was appropriate and what kind of rules are needed
to ensure proper management of the pipes.
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- But it has yet to decide whether the common guideline
is to be compiled as legislation or as an industrial standard, the agency
said.
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- By design, pressurized water in the secondary loop that
goes through the steam generator to activate the turbine is not radioactive
because it does not mix with water from the primary system that runs through
the reactor.
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- As a result, water pipes on the secondary loop currently
fall under the same regulations as pipes in thermal power plants, according
to the agency.
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- With no common guideline set by the government, each
power company carries out inspections under its own rules and the government
only receives reports on annual inspections.
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- Kepco was, therefore, not legally required to inspect
the corroded pipe in Monday's accident.
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- Having failed to fully assess the state of similar nuclear
reactors in the country so far, the government is now gathering information
on the 23 other pressurized-water reactors. Most of the pipes at these
reactors have already been, or are scheduled to be, replaced.
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- It was found after Monday's accident that the carbon
steel pipe that burst had been corroded by the pressurized coolant water
to a thickness of only 1.4 mm, compared to the original 10 mm.
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- Kepco admitted Tuesday that despite being notified in
November of the need for inspections by a subcontractor that services the
plant, it had still not checked the pipe.
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- Sources said Wednesday that a Kepco employee at the Mihama
plant allegedly followed a manual blindly even after seeing signs of trouble
and delayed notifying the fire department by more than 10 minutes.
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- The fire alarm of the plant's No. 3 reactor went off
at 3:22 p.m. Monday, but Kepco alerted the fire department 13 minute later
at 3:35 p.m., according to Kepco and other sources.
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- Kepco allegedly failed to notify the fire department
after the alarm signaling abnormalities went off and the turbine automatically
shut down, the sources said.
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- According to the Kepco manual, when a fire alarm is activated,
employees are supposed to identify the location and magnitude of the fire
before contacting the appropriate agencies.
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- Although the turbine facility was filled with steam,
the employee followed the manual instead of calling the fire department,
because he thought it was a false alarm, the sources said.
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- Meanwhile, Mizuho Fukushima, the leader of the Social
Democratic Party, visited Mihama on Wednesday to meet with Kepco President
Yosaku Fuji and demand an end to nuclear power development.
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- Monju decision on hold FUKUI (Kyodo) Fukui Gov. Issei
Nishikawa suggested Wednesday the prefectural government might significantly
delay its decision on whether to retool the trouble-plagued Monju fast-breeder
reactor.
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- Asked how long it would take to reach a decision, Nishikawa
replied, "We won't know it until problems (concerning Monday's accident)
are resolved." On Monday, there was a fatal accident at Mihama Nuclear
Power Plant in the prefecture.
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- The governor also suggested that his government would
request a suspension of the pluthermal nuclear power project at Takahama
Nuclear Power Plant.
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- Both the Mihama and Takahama plants are owned by Kansai
Electric Power Co., based in Osaka.
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- Fukui Prefecture has 15 nuclear power reactors, the largest
number of the nation's 47 prefectures.
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- Pluthermal, or plutonium-thermal power generation, is
designed to use mixed uranium-plutonium oxide fuel, which allows natural
resource-scarce Japan to make use of spent fuel at nuclear reactors for
power generation as well as to unload a growing volume of spent nuclear
fuel.
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- http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20040812a3.htm
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