After the Light of the JCO Criticality Accident Gone Out, Tokai-mura Continues to Stare at the Shadow 1999-2011

After the Light of the JCO Criticality Accident Gone Out, Tokai-mura Continues to Stare at the Shadow 1999-2011
The JCO criticality accident that occurred in 1999 left Tokai-mura deeply scarred as the first criticality accident in postwar Japan. A combination of omissions in work procedures and organizational arrogance resulted in an emergency broadcast echoing through the village in broad daylight, and the residents were suddenly thrown into a state of invisible terror. The accident was not limited to the negligence of a single company, but revealed a structural breakdown caused by the assumption of society as a whole at the time that nuclear power was safe and inexpensive. Regulations and audits became a shambles, the safety culture weakened, and the safety principles that the nation was supposed to uphold slowly crumbled. Investigations revealed that the accidents were not the fault of individual workers, but the result of a combination of insufficient manpower, overcrowded processes, and management left to the site. The residents were subsequently at the mercy of the government's l
ack of explanation and were forced to continue living in the shadow of radiation. This memory, combined with the issue of restarting the Tokai Daini Nuclear Power Plant and the shock of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident, made us realize anew the flaws in Japan's nuclear administration, and the call to remember the JCO accident is not only a memorial to the past but also a warning for the future that continues to resonate today.