The role of business processes in a nuclear accident in Japan

These two October,1999 articles in Asia Now discuss an accident in which a human error caused a dangerous nuclear reaction in a nuclear reprocessing plant in Japan.

http://cnn.com/ASIANOW/east/9910/03/nuclear.japan.reut/index.html

http://cnn.com/ASIANOW/time/magazine/99/1011/cover1.html

Questions:

1. What specific mistakes seemed to cause the accident? What other factors seemed to increase the likelihood that an accident would occur?

2. Many observers complained that the emergency responses after the nuclear accident occurred were slow and poorly coordinated. Identify evidence that the near term responses were too slow. Describe the process that should have occurred.

3. Explain how concepts related to business processes can be used to describe and understand the accident.

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