「改めて心からおわび」＝安全意識徹底とＪＣＯ社長－臨界事故から２０年・茨城

　茨城県東海村の核燃料加工会社ジェー・シー・オー（ＪＣＯ）の臨界事故から３０日で２０年となるのを前に、同社の桐嶋健二社長が時事通信のインタビューに応じた。事故について「改めて心からおわび申し上げたい」と犠牲者らに謝罪した。
　事故は、違法な作業手順が同社で恒常化していたことが背景にあった。桐嶋社長はこの点について、「安全管理が不十分で、お粗末だった。２人の方を亡くし、多くの被ばく者や風評被害も出した。起こしてはいけない事故を起こした」と話した。
　同社は事故翌年の２０００年に核燃料加工の許可を取り消され、現在はウラン廃棄物の保管管理を主に行っている。重大事故の再発防止の取り組みについては、「『絶対安全、絶対無事故』という指針を事故の翌年に制定した。２０年間、社員全員に話しながら（業務を）やってきた」と安全意識の徹底を図ってきたと強調。「信頼回復に努める」と語った。（2019/09/29-14:58）

Kenji Kirishima, president of Japanese nuclear fuel processing company JCO Co., apologized again in a recent interview with Jiji Press for a deadly nuclear criticality accident that occurred at its facility in Ibaraki Prefecture, northeast of Tokyo, 20 years ago.
   "I want to offer an apology anew from the bottom of my heart" to victims and other affected people, Kirishima said. The Sept. 30, 1999, accident at the JCO facility in the village of Tokai left two company workers dead and more than 660 residents exposed to radiation.
   "Safety management was insufficient and poor" at the time, Kirishima said. The company "caused an accident that should have never happened," he said. JCO instituted guidelines in 2000 to ensure safety and prevent any accident, he said, adding that the company has been putting priority on keeping employees aware of the importance of safety.
   In the accident, uranium solution that was poured into a precipitation tank in an amount that substantially exceeded the safety limit led to a state of criticality, an uncontrollable self-sustaining nuclear fission chain reaction, releasing neutrons into the atmosphere.
   JCO and six employees, including then head of the facility, have been convicted of charges including professional negligence resulting in death. At present, the company engages mainly in storage and management of uranium waste after its license to process nuclear fuel was revoked in 2000.