BY YUZURU HONDO

On September 30, a critical accident occurred at a plant of "JCO," a privately run uranium processing company, at Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture. At least seventy-two people received radiation, and the employees who were working when the nuclear reaction broke out were exposed to more radiation than the victims of the atomic bomb at Hiroshima. The faulty control postures for nuclear energy by JCO and the Government were brought to light by this event. JCO had made a secret operations manual and simplified the process based on that, in order to reduce expenses and the work burden. The immediate cause was that the workers disobeyed even the secret manual. Moreover, they had little knowledge about uranium processing and had not been taught the method of dealing with unexpected accidents.

Foreign countries criticized Japan for its lax control. The plant was not designed to prevent radiation from spreading outside. In the developed countries in Europe and the United States, the Governments completely inspect their plants, and there is the view that the Japanese Science and Technology Agency is to blame for lack of proper inspection and guidance in nuclear plants.

The citizen's mistrust in politics was completely confirmed by this event. Not a few accidents related with nuclear power have occurred up to today. There is still the memory of the accident at the Tsuruga Plant last July. The Government, however, did not give enough information to the public in any of the cases, and have simply repeated that they are all "safe." But opposed to the Government's statements, nuclear accidents have occurred many times.

Another topic. Scandals in the Kanagawa Prefectural Police force have recently been uncovered. The police have given vague answers and denied the suspicions to the press, but some of the suspicions have proved to be true as the criminal investigations advanced.

These events and scandals shows the corruption of the Government and bureaucracy. The Government expresses policy plans for many problems through the media everyday, but the citizens do not trust their words. Can citizens entrust nuclear or other such problems to only the Government or bureaucracy any more? It is time they actively managed their problems by themselves to live in peace.