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Report: South Korea nuclear plant leak injures workers
October 5, 1999
Web posted at: 9:42 p.m. HKT (1342 GMT)
SEOUL, South Korea (Reuters) -- Twenty-two workers were
exposed to radiation at a South Korean nuclear power plant
Monday from a leak of heavy water during maintenance on the
plant's water cooling pump, Yonhap news agency reported on Tuesday.
Yonhap said the accident occurred at about 7 p.m. (6:00 a.m.
EDT) on Monday at Wolsung nuclear power reactor No. 3 in northern Kyongsang Province, according to the Ministry of Science and Technology.
Yonhap gave no further details and ministry officials were
not immediately available for comment.
The leak follows Japan's worst-ever nuclear accident last
Thursday when workers mixing a uranium solution triggered a
nuclear chain reaction at a uranium processing plant in
Tokaimura, about 90 miles northeast of Tokyo.
Fifty-five people, mainly plant workers and emergency
personnel who responded to the Tokaimura accident, were exposed to the radiation and three remain in serious condition.
South Korean government officials said after Japan's incident that they did not anticipate similar accidents occurring in Korea.
Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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RELATED SITES:
International Atomic Energy Agency
Timeline of nuclear technology
Korean Ministry of Science and Technology
Nuclear Energy Activities in Korea
The OECD Nuclear Energy Agency
Radiation Effects Research Foundation
The Uranium Institute Online
Chernobyl - The Accident and Progress Since 1986
Three Mile Island
Environmental Protection Agency
Radiation Protection Division
See related sites about East Asia
East Asian media
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