(Updating with company statement, PM Kozumi comment, background)
TOKYO (AFX-ASIA) - At least four workers were killed and seven others were
severely burned by a leak of non-radioactive steam at Kansai Electric Power Co's
nuclear power plant in central Japan, the company and police said.
The nuclear power plant at Mihama, 350 kilometres west of Tokyo, shut down
automatically when an alarm sounded just before the accident and the plant's
operators stressed there was no danger of a radiation leak.
A police spokesman in Fukui prefecture confirmed four people were killed in
the accident, which happened in the turbine room of a pressurised water reactor
at the plant which is run by the Kansai Electric.
A spokesman for the local fire brigade said the heart of another worker
stopped beating at one stage, but it was not possible to confirm the patient's
condition.
An official from Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said the
leaked steam would not have contained radiation as the turbines in the water
reactors do not come into contact with the nuclear reactors.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi expressed regret at the loss of life and
stressed the need for high safety standards in an industry that provides Japan
with over a quarter of its energy.
"The cause of the accident must be clarified. Prevention efforts and safety
measures have to be fully enforced," Koizumi said.
Hiroshi Matsumura, managing director of Kansai Electric, apologized. "It is
extremely regrettable. To those who were injured and to the public, we
apologize," he told a press conference.
The latest accident happened when a nuclear reactor and a turbine connected
to the reactor automatically stopped because of an alarm, Kansai Electric said
in a statement.
Following the shutdown steam at over 200 degrees Centigrade filled up the
turbine room causing severe injuries to workers trapped inside, the statement
said.
The cause of the alarm is under investigation, the company said.
It was the first fatal incident at a nuclear-related plant since September
1999, when two workers were killed at the Tokaimura uranium plant northeast of
Tokyo.
More than 600 people were also exposed to radiation after the workers set
off a critical reaction by using steel buckets to pour uranium solution into a
precipitation tank.
About 320,000 people were evacuated in the incident, regarded as the
world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.
Japan's nuclear power industry had only just been recovering from the
crisis of confidence caused when Tokyo Electric Power Company, the world's
largest energy utility, admitted in 2002 it had systematically covered up
inspection data showing there were cracks in its nuclear reactors.
TEPCO was forced shut down all 17 of its reactors last year pending the
all-clear from safety inspectors.
Japan, which is the third largest nuclear power producer in the world after
the US and France, has 52 nuclear reactors run by 10 private companies.
hih-mis/ja/pch/net
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