Nuclear Plant Adviser Quits After Calling Quake Experiment

Professor Kenzo Miya.

by Staff Writers
Tokyo (AFP) Aug 03, 2007
The head of a board inspecting a Japanese nuclear plant that leaked radiation in an earthquake resigned Friday after calling the incident an "invaluable experiment." The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata prefecture, some 250 kilometres (155 miles) northwest of Tokyo, leaked a small amount of radioactive water after a 6.8 Richter-scale earthquake on July 16. The plant's operator said the amount of radiation from the nuclear plant, which is the largest in the world, was far too little to cause health concerns. But it came under criticism for initially under reporting the level.

Kenzo Miya, an engineering professor at Tokyo's Hosei University and since 2003 the head of a prefectural commission on the plant's safety, inspected the site and found no risk.

He said Thursday at a press conference that the earthquake was an "irreplaceable, invaluable experiment."

"Mr. Miya has resigned citing unspecified personal reasons," a prefectural official, Shinichi Fujita, told AFP.

Asked if his resignation was due to the faux pas, Fujita said: "You may imagine many things about the matter, but we cannot say."

The earthquake destroyed hundreds of homes and killed 11 people.

In a bid to assuage concern about the radiation, Japan has invited a team from the UN International Atomic Energy Agency to inspect the plant next week.

Miya's was the latest gaffe to make headlines in Japan.

Earlier this year, the defence minister resigned after saying that the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki hastened the end of World War II.

Source: Agence France-Presse

Community
Email This Article
Comment On This Article

Related Links
Civil Nuclear Energy Science, Technology and News
Powering The World in the 21st Century at Energy-Daily.com

CIVIL NUCLEAR

Nuclear Booms Almost Everywhere

Berlin (UPI) Aug 03, 2007
In most of Europe, nuclear energy is seen as a vital tool to guarantee energy security; in the continent's largest economy, however, things are a bit different. One of the fiercest opponents of nuclear energy is a German federal minister. Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel of the center-left Social Democratic Party is one of the architects of the German plan to phase out nuclear energy by 2021. Earlier this week he increased the pressure on the German nuclear energy industry after security deficits surfaced at two plants run by Vattenfall Europe.

ENERGY TECH US Congress Nudges Energy Industry To Go Green Tapping Into Space For Energy Russia's Oil-Fuelled Boom Continues A Future Natural Gas Cartel	CIVIL NUCLEAR Nuclear Booms Almost Everywhere Nuclear Plant Adviser Quits After Calling Quake Experiment IAEA To Visit Japan Quake-Hit Nuclear Plant Next Week Hitachi Cuts Losses With Nuclear Plant Sales
BLUE SKY Invisible Gases Form Most Organic Haze In Both Urban And Rural Areas BAE Systems Completes Major New Facility For Ionospheric Physics Research NASA Satellite Captures First View Of Night-Shining Clouds Main Component For World Latest Satellite To Measure Greenhouse Gases Delivered	WOOD PILE East Africa Battles Deforestation With Butterfly Nets Peru Launches Drive To Regrow Lost Forests And Jungles Increase In Creeping Vines Signals Major Shift In Southern US Forests Report Finds Forest Enterprises Stifled By Red Tape, Putting Forests And Incomes At Risk
FARM NEWS Wild Weather Forces Farmers To Adapt Researcher Studies Proteins That Make Rice Flourish Asian Land Grabs Highlight Class Friction And Bureaucratic Failures Natural Disasters Hit Chinese Grain Output	CAR TECH See What You're Spewing As You Speed Along Toyota To Test Electric Plug-In Hybrid Prius Cars Smart Traffic Sign Stops Collisions Toyota Plug-In Hybrid To Hit The Roads
AEROSPACE Boeing Flies Blended Wing Body Research Aircraft Steering Aircraft Clear Of Choppy Air EAA AirVenture 2007 Sensors May Monitor Aircraft For Defects Continuously	NUCLEAR SPACE Could NASA Get To Pluto Faster? Space Expert Says Yes - By Thinking Nuclear NASA plans to send new robot to Jupiter Los Alamos Hopes To Lead New Era Of Nuclear Space Tranportion With Jovian Mission Boeing Selects Leader for Nuclear Space Systems Program

The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2007 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement