FROM: NHK WORLD
Workers at an accident-hit nuclear processing plant northeast of Tokyo are preparing to conduct an operation to treat nuclear waste.
The personnel of JCO, a subsidiary of Sumitomo Metal Mining, began constructing an incinerator to dispose of low-level radioactive substances at its plant in Tokai Village, Ibaraki Prefecture, on Monday.
The firm lost its business license for such processing after 2 workers died of radiation poisoning during the disposal process in September, 1999. More than 660 others in and around the plant, including residents, were exposed to radiation.
JCO has been allowed to conduct work to store nuclear waste that was produced from processing procedures before the firm lost the permit.
The firm is hoping to begin using the incinerator in November to burn low-level radioactive materials such as waste oil. Used work clothes and documents are among the item to be treated.
The materials the company plans to destroy amount to about 700 metallic barrels, each with a capacity of 200 liters. The firm's officials say the facility's air-filtering system will prevent any radioactive substances from leaking outside.
The plant's head, Hirokazu Miyauchi, said the workers will make safety the top priority when they operate the incinerator.
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Modern industrial society is a fanatical religion. We are demolishing, poisoning, destroying all life-systems on the planet. We are signing IOUs our children will not be able to pay...We are acting as if we were the last generation on the planet. Without a radical change in heart, in mind, in vision, the earth will end up like Venus, charred and dead. – Jose Antonio Lutzenberger, Brazilian Minister for the Environment
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