Chronic neglect of safety
Nuclear plant fire shows operators' poor management
It is beyond deplorable when examining the causes of a fire at the Shin Kori No. 4 nuclear reactor in Ulsan, Saturday. The accident demonstrated that the nuclear power plant operators' infamous ignoring of safety measures has not changed at all. At the time of the accident, the plant's generator turbine stopped running, four explosions rang out and a great deal of smoke (water vapor in actuality) was released. These showed it could not be dismissed as a minor accident but one requiring a swift and effective response.
However, the operators tried to put out the fire for about 20 minutes. After these efforts did not work, they then reported it to a fire station. That was why it took as long as an hour to put it out. What if the accident led to a fatal accident? Even more astonishing, almost all residents nearby were quite unaware of what was going on because neither the operators nor local officials notified them. If there had been a radiation leak or other grave situation, residents might have suffered irreparable damage, not even knowing the cause.