Japan Nuke Accident Highlights Laxity, Aging Plants

[papau]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&ncid=578&e=6&u=/nm/20040810/ts_nm/nuclear_japan_accident_dc

Japan Nuke Accident Highlights Laxity, Aging Plants

Tue Aug 10, 7:50 AM ET
By Masayuki Kitano

TOKYO (Reuters) - An accident at a Japanese nuclear plant that killed four workers occurred in an area that was to be inspected this week for the first time in 28 years, and months after a warning of potential problems, the plant's operator said on Tuesday.

The admission by Kansai Electric Power Co. is likely to further dent public confidence in Japan's nuclear policy, raising questions about the condition of some of Japan's aging plants and management's apparent laxity on safety matters.

Four workers were killed in Japan's deadliest nuclear industry accident on Monday when super-heated steam escaped from a ruptured pipe in a building housing turbines for a reactor at the Mihama nuclear power plant, 320 km (200 miles) west of Tokyo. <snip>

He said the pipe had not been checked since 1976 because it was not on an inspection list -- something Kansai Electric was notified of in November by a maintenance sub-contractor. <snip>