DATE=10/5/1999 TYPE=U-S OPINION ROUNDUP TITLE=LESSONS FROM A NUCLEAR DISASTER NUMBER=6-11501 BYLINE=ANDREW GUTHRIE DATELINE=WASHINGTON EDITOR=ASSIGNMENTS TELEPHONE=619-3335 CONTENT= INTRO: Just as U-S newspaper editorials were busy commenting on the lessons to be learned from the nuclear processing plant disaster in Japan, news of another nuclear accident flashed around the world. The latest mishap occurred in a South Korean nuclear power plant, when a leak of heavy water contaminated 22 workers with low-level radiation. As for the more serious Japanese accident, which may take the lives of the two most seriously exposed workers, American daily papers are having plenty to say about how it happened, and how such incidents should be prevented in the future. Now here is ___________ with a sampling in today's U-S Opinion Roundup. TEXT: In what was widely reported as the worst accident in Japan's troubled history with nuclear power, a group of workers violating the plant's own regulations, caused an out-of-control chain reaction. It happened as they were mixing almost 16 kilograms of uranium into a purification tank holding nitric acid. They were supposed to have put in only two-and-one- third-kilos. The mistake caused a flash of blue light inside the plant, and spewed dangerous levels of radiation into the air. One or two of the workers closest to the scene of the accident may die of radiation poisoning. Others were injured, and more than 300-thousand residents of the surrounding area were evacuated. Many U-S papers are suggesting the accident should be a warning for increased vigilance in all operations dealing with radioactive materials. We begin our sampling in Utah, where The [Salt Lake City] Deseret [pron: `DEZ-uh-ret] News notes: VOICE: At the heart of the Japanese nuclear disaster ... is a lesson as old as the workplace itself -- don't cut corners when it comes to safety. Had officials at the uranium processing plant not printed a manual that directed employees to use [the wrong size and shape of] stainless-steel buckets to mix a dangerous solution, 49 people would be healthy today, rather than suffering from radiation poisoning. Not only that, an entire nation would not be feeling shame and disbelief. ... Using the safe method, it would [have] take[n] three hours to prepare the uranium. The quick, slap-dash method took only 30 minutes, but at an enormous cost. ... Most people who cut corners are guilty of neglect and foolishness. But administrators who deliberately direct employees to cut corners in the name of profits or efficiency are guilty of much more. Their corner-cutting is criminal. // OPT // The world has seen plenty of this recently. Thousands of people died in earthquakes in turkey because builders cut corners as they constructed housing developments. Not too long ago, building-code violations were blamed for helping Hurricane Andrew devastate much of southern Florida. ... One can be assured that nuclear plants in Japan will carefully follow approved procedures from now on. The question remains, however, whether Americans of all professions, watching from afar, will learn the same lesson before it's too late. // END OPT // TEXT: Florida's Miami Herald breathes a sigh of relief in this editorial, as it gleans the lessons to be learned. VOICE: Undoubtedly the accident that spewed high levels of radiation into the air north of Tokyo could have been worse. Chernobyl was [worse] -- much worse. That said, what happened at Sumitomo Metal Mining Company, a uranium processing plant, was bad enough. Bad enough to deliver lethal doses to the three workers involved, endanger 50 others, shut neighboring schools, highways and factories and quarantine 300-thousand people. Equally troubling was the immediate reaction of the Japanese government. ... By all accounts, the emergency response was confused and uncoordinated. [What is] worse, Japan's chief of natural Resources and Energy, Hirobumi Kawano, dismissed concerns about the country's nuclear-energy program, telling reporters there is no need to re-examine safety measures. That's outrageous. TEXT: On New York's Long Island, Newsday is calling for more vigilance on the part of the worldwide nuclear power industry following the Japanese accident. VOICE: With no fossil-fuel resources to speak of, Japan is heavily dependent on nuclear power. So the corner-cutting that apparently caused the country's worst nuclear accident last week was doubly inexcusable. ... Judging by Japanese press accounts, the handling of nuclear materials at the plant was reckless almost beyond belief. ... Americans, of course, would like to believe that no such lapse could ever happen here. But when the penalty for stupidity or sloppiness is potentially severe, a hard look at U-S nuclear processing plants seems more than justified. TEXT: Boston's Christian Science Monitor says it is human nature to become complacent, even when dealing with potentially life-threatening materials. VOICE: Human capacity to run such complex, giant and dangerous technology as nuclear power requires decades of competence that can easily slip into hubris. Nuclear accidents in Japan -- and official lying about them -- is quietly condoned by officials as necessary for energy independence. But Japan needs another national goal: a culture of safety in its nuclear plants. TEXT: In Northern California, The San Francisco Examiner gives thanks that the mistake was not even more costly. VOICE: The accident was not on the scale of Chernobyl [in Ukraine] or Three-Mile Island [a power plant in the state of Pennsylvania, where a damaging accident occurred 20 years ago], but [it] was frightening enough to make local officials wonder why those running the plant waited 58 minutes to notify authorities. Japan's nuclear overseers must install safeguards against carelessness and do a better job protecting people near facilities that provide a third of the nation's electricity. TEXT: However, on Hawaii, the U-S island state where almost of the power sources have to be imported, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin warns against any emotional over-reaction to the incident. VOICE: Reaction to the accident should not be a hysterical rejection of nuclear power. Although the accident has shaken confidence in the safety of nuclear energy, the government of Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi plans to proceed with its nuclear program while pledging to improve its performance on safety. Japan relies on nuclear energy for one-third of its electric power generation, and plans to expand the nuclear industry. By comparison, in the United States nuclear power generates about 20-percent of electricity. ... The lesson that should be learned from this accident is that safety precautions should be strengthened, not that nuclear energy should be abandoned. TEXT: Lastly, the view of The New York Times, that the Japanese Government needs to learn a harsh and valuable lesson from this and abandon its past practices. VOICE: The Japanese Government, which has been accused of cover-up tendencies after previous nuclear accidents, will need to make full and prompt disclosure of what happened at Tokaiumura if it is to maintain credibility and salvage its troubled nuclear industry. For the United States, the main lesson may lie less in the particular flaws and errors uncovered at Tokaimura than in the reminder that it is alarmingly easy to get into trouble in the nuclear business the minute one's guard is lowered. TEXT: On that note, we conclude this sampling of comment on the nuclear processing plant accident last week in Japan. NEB/ANG/WTW 05-Oct-1999 14:43 PM EDT (05-Oct-1999 1843 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .