Document zzRqwzYRzQ4M6d41ZOdyEO5pz

PLASTICS fiJER'BBPR WKPKLY: November 23,1973 TOKYO -- Reeling from the five explosions which made "Black October", the Japanese chemicals and polymer industry has suffered yet another plant explosion --* at the vinyl chloride monomer facility of Shin-Etsu at Kubiki.;- This latest disaster makes the VCM and pvc situation in the country even worse that it'was. and the Ministry of International Trade and Industry has asl^ed for further Cut-backs in export allocations for the remain ing quarter of the year. There is even talk of the need to import material, to provide supplies for the home market. Earlier, following the big explosion at Idemitsu on Juiv 7, MITI directed that VCM and pvc exporis,fot the JulySeptember: period should be restricted ffpm 30.000 tonnes to only lO.OdO tonnes. The Idemitsu; explosion, according to a tldvermnentappointed investigation.: Com mittee -- which has just re ported its findings -- was due to failure of operatives and valve mishandled it and another workman failed to dose the valve .completely. Nobody noticed jhe rising temperature, Which caused a high-temperature gas to heat up to over 1000"C, which ruptured the pipe in the tow, er through which it passed, and the gas leaked out, catching fire and causing the explosion. technicians to notice a rapidly-climbing temperature reading. ' Prof Tsuyoshi Hikida. lead ing the committee, concludes that workmen mishandled valves on the plant land res ponded inadequately to "a suddenly abnormal situation Blamed too were techni cians who inefficiently handl ed the computer-controlled plant temperature readings. An operative reading the instruments on a hydrogen