It can't happen here. Can it?
Private companies aren't much better than the government. A number of people became sick last year from Snow Brand dairy products that had been poorly handled in the factory. And poor training at--of all places--a nuclear plant at Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture, led to the deaths of two workers at the plant after they dumped bucketfuls of uranium into the nuclear brew, causing an uncontrolled nuclear chain reaction. Long-term health effects on residents of the area have yet to be determined.
And that's just one of several nuclear accidents in recent years. In December 1995, the fast reactor in Monju, also in Ibaraki Prefecture, leaked liquid sodium from its cooling system, leading to a serious fire. The incident was made all the worse when the the company tried to cover up the severity of the accident.
Nuclear physicist Professor Jochen Benecke, invited by Greenpeace to visit Japan to study the accident and Monju design and he met with PNC (Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corp.) officials, criticized both design and safety at Monju. "The sodium leak in December seems to be a failure of quality in both design and analysis," he said. "If it is possible to fail in such a simple and well-known matter as the thermo-couple which caused the leak, how much confidence can we have that PNC has done everything absolutely perfectly with respect to a major accident?"
And still the government tries to convince the public that nuclear power is safe. Perhaps it is--IF proper procedures are followed. But these accidents were the result of flouting proper procedure.
Now mad cow disease has been found in Japan. Can we believe the assurances that our milk and beef are safe?
Hugh Ashton, a longtime British resident of Japan, noted two years ago after a small plane crash knocked out all power in a large section of Tokyo that the incident demonstrated just how vulnerable Tokyo is; terrorists or an earthquake could cripple Japan's capital. "Everyone knows that the emergency plans for Tokyo are a sick joke," he says, "but no one seems willing to do anything about it. Imagine 20 World Trade Center incidents simultaneously, and you might have an idea of what the business district of Tokyo would be like after the Big One."
Political considerations and cultural factors help to explain the usual slow response to disasters, he points out. "The Japanese consensus method of government, the constant need
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