Japan’s worst nuclear accident — a September 1999 incident at a nuclear fuel plant in Tokaimura — exposed 439 people to radiation, up from a previous estimate of 69, government officials say. Greenpeace Japan thinks the new estimate is still too low. In other troubling nuclear news, Ukraine officials said yesterday that they had temporarily shut down the only operating reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant for the second time within days. A minor malfunction caused a shutdown last week, and excessive pressure in its water system is causing the current shutdown, which will last at least until tomorrow. Ukraine has said it would close Chernobyl this year if Western governments help it develop other power sources, but the West has not yet delivered promised funds.
