nuclear-news

Japan’s nuclear energy sector is riven by poor management

Deutsche Welle 12th June 2017, Japan’s nuclear energy sector is riven by poor management, is overly
bureaucratic and staffed by people who no longer have any pride in their
jobs. So accidents are inevitable, say critics.

The Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) issued a statement on Saturday, June 10, claiming that none
of the five workers at a nuclear research facility that it had previously
reported had suffered serious internal radiation exposure after an accident
on June 7 have plutonium in their lungs.

The agency’s report contradicts the initial claim that one of the workers had suffered internal exposure to
22,000 Becquerels of plutonium after a canister that had been in a storage
unit at the Oarai Research and Development Center for 26 years was opened
and bags holding the material burst.

Japan’s Asahi Shimbun newspaper has described the JAEA as “an organization that has been accused of gross
bungling in the past” and said the confusion over the workers’ exposure was
caused by high levels of plutonium on the men’s skin, not in their lungs.
“It’s just another example of poor management in these organizations,” said
Aileen Mioko Smith, an anti-nuclear campaigner with Kyoto-based Green
Action Japan, an NGO.

“I think these organizations have become overly
bureaucratic, there is no longer any pride among the workforce in what they
are doing – either at these sites or in management – and far too much work
is subcontracted out because that is the easiest way for them to save
money,” she told DW.   http://www.dw.com/en/japans-nuclear-mishap-underlines-industry-malaise/a-39209569

June 14, 2017 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, Japan