Accident That Happened In Auchi Today

[Aila Gilb]

Theaccident happened Wednesday morning in Auchi headquarters of Etsako West Local Government Area of Edo State after a trailer conveying cement reportedly crashed into several shops in the city centre.

However, an official of the FRSC who pleaded anonymity said that the whereabouts of the driver and his motor boy is yet unknown after they immediately jumped out of the wreck and ran away when the accident occurred.

The FRSC source said that the ill-fated vehicle which was coming from the popular upgarage area of the polytechnic town was descending the hill when it suddenly had a brake failure and the driver lost control.

He said that he was speechless when he got to the scene of the accident which is popularly referred to as Igbo Shade, adding that the vehicle smashed into many shops, killing several persons and destroying goods worth millions of naira.

He disclosed that several persons who were injured in the morning fatal auto crash have been rushed to different hospitals in Auchi and neighbouring Jattu for treatment and are presently battling for their lives.

Auchi is in deep mourning. Early this morning, the driver of a trailer conveying cement lost control as a result of brake failure and crashed into the popular Igbo Shade, killing several persons which included traders and buyers.

Meanwhile, a PDP aspirant for Etsako Federal Constituency in the National Assembly, Engr. Moses Omo-Ikirodah has sent his heartfelt condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in a tragic accident at Auchi in Edo State.

Omo-Ikirodah who was short of words over the horrific incidence condemned the despicable act of passersby who were seen making recordings and screaming without making an attempt to evacuate the injured for emergency treatment.

The Tokaimura nuclear accidents refer to two nuclear related incidents near the village of Tōkai, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. The first accident occurred on 11 March 1997, producing an explosion after an experimental batch of solidified nuclear waste caught fire at the Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corporation (PNC) radioactive waste bituminisation facility. Over twenty people were exposed to radiation.

The second was a criticality accident at a separate fuel reprocessing facility belonging to Japan Nuclear Fuel Conversion Co. (JCO) on 30 September 1999 due to improper handling of liquid uranium fuel for an experimental reactor.[1] The incident spanned approximately 20 hours and resulted in radiation exposure for 667 people and the deaths of two workers.[2] Most of the technicians had to go to hospital with serious injuries.[3]

It was determined that the accidents were due to inadequate regulatory oversight, lack of appropriate safety culture and inadequate worker training and qualification. After these two accidents, a series of lawsuits were filed and new safety measures were put into effect.

By March 2000, Japan's atomic and nuclear commissions began regular investigations of facilities, expansive education regarding proper procedures and safety culture regarding handling nuclear chemicals and waste. JCO's credentials were removed, the first Japanese plant operator to be punished by law for mishandling nuclear radiation.[4] This was followed by the company president's resignation and six officials being charged with professional negligence.

Nuclear power was an important energy alternative for natural-resource-poor Japan to limit dependence on imported energy, providing approximately 30% of Japan's electricity[5] up until the Fukushima nuclear disaster of 2011, after which nuclear electricity production fell into sharp decline.[6]

This particular plant was made in 1988 and processed 3 tonnes of uranium per year. The uranium that was processed was enriched up to 20% U-235, which is a higher enrichment level than normal. They did this using a wet process.[3]

On 11 March 1997, the village of Tōkai's first serious nuclear-related incident occurred at PNC's bituminisation facility. It is sometimes referred to as the Dōnen accident (動燃事故, Dōnen jiko), 'Dōnen' being an abbreviation of PNC's full Japanese name Dōryokuro Kakunenryō Kaihatsu Jigyōdan. The site encased and solidified low-level liquid waste in molten asphalt (bitumen) for storage, and that day was trialling a new asphalt-waste mix, using 20% less asphalt than normal. A gradual chemical reaction inside one fresh barrel ignited the already-hot contents at 10:00 a.m. and quickly spread to several others nearby. Workers failed to properly extinguish the fire, and smoke and radiation alarms forced all personnel to evacuate the building. At 8 p.m., just as people were preparing to reenter the building, built up flammable gases ignited and exploded, breaking windows and doors, which allowed smoke and radiation to escape into the surrounding area.

The incident exposed 37 nearby personnel to trace amounts of radiation in what the government's Science and Technology Agency declared the country's worst-yet nuclear accident, which was rated a 3 on the International Nuclear Event Scale. A week after the event, meteorological officials detected unusually high levels of caesium 40 kilometres (25 miles) south-west of the plant.[8] Aerial views over the nuclear processing plant building showed a damaged roof from the fire and explosion allowing continued external radiation exposure.

PNC management mandated two workers to falsely report the chronological events leading to the facility evacuation in order to cover-up lack of proper supervision.[9] Dōnen leadership failed to immediately report the fire to the Science and Technology Agency (STA). This delay was due to their own internal investigation of the fire causing hampered immediate emergency response teams and prolonged radioactivity exposure. Dōnen facility officials initially reported a 20 percent increase of radiation levels in the area surrounding the reprocessing plant, but later revealed the true percent was ten times higher than initially published.[10] Tōkai residents demanded criminal prosecution of PNC officials, reorganization of company leadership and closure of the plant itself.[9] Following public outcry, the facility closed until reopening in November 2000 when it was reinstated as a nuclear fuel reprocessing plant.[11]

The second, more serious Tōkai nuclear accident (Japanese: 東海村JCO臨界事故, romanized: Tōkai-mura JCO-rinkai-jiko) occurred approximately four miles away from the PNC facility on 30 September 1999, at a fuel enrichment plant operated by JCO, a subsidiary of Sumitomo Metal Mining Company. It was the worst civilian nuclear radiation accident in Japan prior to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster of 2011.[10] The incident exposed the surrounding population to hazardous nuclear radiation after the uranium mixture reached criticality. Two of the three technicians mixing fuel lost their lives. The incident was caused by lack of regulatory supervision, inadequate safety culture and improper technician training and education.[13]

The first cause that contributed to the accident was the lack of regulatory oversight. The overhead failed to install a criticality accident alarm and they were not included in the National Plan for the Prevention of Nuclear Disasters.[14] Due to lack of safety technology, they had to rely on the administration to keep track of the levels. This meant that there was human error involved. In addition, the regulator did not conduct routine inspections that would have caught this lack of safety technology that could have prevented the accident.

The second cause of the accident was the inadequate safety culture in Japan. The company did not submit the second operation of nuclear facilities to the safety management division because they knew it would not get approved. The company spokesman explained that the company's revenue was getting low and so they felt they had no choice, but to open a new factory. They knew it wouldn't get approved so they did it without telling the safety management division.[14]

Pressure placed upon JCO to increase efficiency led the company to employ an illegal procedure wherein they skipped several key steps in the enrichment procedure. The technicians poured the product by hand in stainless-steel buckets directly into a precipitation tank.[10] This process inadvertently contributed to a critical mass level incident triggering uncontrolled nuclear chain reactions over the next several hours.

Two of the workers were working on the tank at the time of the accident; the third was in a nearby room. All three immediately reported seeing blue-white flashes. They evacuated immediately upon hearing the gamma alarms sound. After evacuating, one of the workers that was at the tank began experiencing symptoms of irradiation.[17] The worker passed out, then regained consciousness 70 minutes later. The three workers were then transferred to the hospital, who confirmed that they were exposed to high doses of gamma, neutron, and other radiation.

In addition to these three workers who immediately felt symptoms, 56 people at the JCO plant were reported to have been exposed to the gamma, neutron, and other irradiation. In addition to the workers at the site, construction workers who were working on a job site nearby, were also reported to have been exposed.[17]

JCO facility technicians Hisashi Ouchi, Masato Shinohara, and Yutaka Yokokawa were speeding up the last few steps of the fuel/conversion process to meet shipping requirements. It was JCO's first batch of fuel for the Jōyō experimental fast breeder reactor in three years; no proper qualification and training requirements were established to prepare for the process.[2] To save processing time, and for convenience, the team mixed the chemicals in stainless-steel buckets. The workers followed JCO operating manual guidance in this process but were unaware it was not approved by the STA.[16] Under correct operating procedure, uranyl nitrate would be stored inside a buffer tank and gradually pumped into the precipitation tank in 2.4 kg (5.3 lb) increments.[13]

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