World News 01-10-1999 Nuclear Accident In Japan what: where: Tokaimura when: Yesterday snippet: The lead story for the BBC and The Independent is yesterday`s nuclear accident in Tokaimura, 100 miles north east of Tokyo, where radiation levels around the nuclear power plant rose to as high as 15,000 times the normal. The Independent called it "The world`s worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl". "More than 30 workers at the Tokaimura plant are thought to have been exposed to radiation," reports the BBC. "Two are in a critical condition and are expected to be given bone marrow transplants". However, the report continues: "officials say radiation levels outside the plant have now returned to normal, and local residents are no longer at serious risk." The accident was caused by workers "mixing uranium with nitric acid to make fuel for a power plant," writes The Times. "But they put too much uranium in the tank, setting off a nuclear reaction". [... more]

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