Note - no link to Y2K so far - though the cause is not yet known. Just might be relevant though because of the disparity between the estimate and the reality. No radiation escaped.

Thursday July 15 6:56 AM ET

Japan Nuke Plant Leak Said Serious

TOKYO (AP) - An accident at a Japanese nuclear reactor this week caused a radiation leak 11,500 times above the safety limit, the company operating the facility said today.

The Japan Atomic Power Co. insists that no radiation escaped into the environment during Monday's accident, caused by a cracked pipe in the building that houses the reactor.

But the leak's magnitude was significantly higher than the company's original estimate of levels 250 times higher than safety standards, the company said in a statement.

Measuring the radiation that leaked throughout the plant took about two days, during which officials discovered higher levels than they had expected, company spokesman Atsushi Naruse told The Associated Press.

He said the company was investigating the cause of the leak.

About 89 tons of water used for cooling the No. 2 reactor had leaked within the reactor building before the valve of the cracked pipe could be turned off Monday in Tsuruga, 200 miles west of Tokyo.

Trust in Japan's nuclear industry has fallen in recent years following a series of accidents and cover-ups by plant operators. A fire in March 1997 exposed 37 workers to low-level radiation in a fuel processing facility in northern Japan.

Japan, a nation poor in natural resources, relies on nuclear power for about one-third of its electricity.

-- Linda (lwmb@psln.com), July 15, 1999

Answers

Japan, a nation poor in natural resources,

That's an understatement. They have to import just about everything, including, I assume, fuel for their nukes. Talk about a nation vulnerable to Y2K supply line glitches, and Japan is your best example.

-- Dog Gone (layinglow@rollover.now), July 15, 1999.

Had our submarine torpedoes worked worth a damn, the Japanese Merchant fleet would have been on the bottom of the Pacific by mid- 1944. Starvation would have forced their surrender. With a much larger population, they are far more vulnerable to disruption.

-- Mr.Mike (mikeabn@aol.com), July 15, 1999.

Pointing out the vulnerability of cultures which attempt to thrive in a unconducive physical environment with modern civilizations.

By the by our Japanese bretheren import ALL of their oil. ALL 5.4 miln bbls per day! Have a nice winter.

-- Gordon (g_gecko_69@hotmail.com), July 17, 1999.