- Japan nuclear crisis: Atomic samurai not afraid to die
From: Herald Sun
March 18, 2011
THEY are being hailed as the modern-day samurai - the 180 brave men who stayed behind to fight the crisis at Fukushima nuclear power plant knowing it was very likely they had volunteered for a suicide mission.
It is virtually impossible to talk to the workers by phone. But the message came out from one that he was "not afraid to die" - that was his job, the Herald Sun reported.
The families of these brave men may never see them again, but they are proud of their sacrifice.
A 27-year-old woman, whose Twitter name is @NamicoAoto, tweeted that her father had volunteered for Fukushima duty.
"I heard that he volunteered even though he will be retiring in just half a year and my eyes are filling up with tears," she said.
"At home, he doesn't seem like someone who could handle big jobs. But today, I was really proud of him. I pray for his safe return."
Another loved one says in an email: "My father is still working at the plant. He says he's accepted his fate, much like a death sentence."
Prime Minister Naota Kan told the volunteers: "You are the only ones who can resolve a crisis. Retreat is unthinkable."
In shifts of 50, they are working in total darkness using flashlights or helmets with lamps on them.
Wearing head-to-toe protective gear and breathing through oxygen tanks as radiation reaches potentially lethal levels and temperatures soar, they crawl through dark mazes of pipes to make an adjustment on a valve, to read a gauge.
Nuclear experts say the skeleton crew is most likely not made up of managers but technicians, including firefighters, who know the plant inside out.
They are more likely to be skilled older men than fit young ones because they have already had children and even if they are exposed to massive amounts of radiation their cancers are unlikely to develop to a fatal stage in their lifetime.
The volunteers are being rotated in and out of the danger zone, often for only 10 or 15 minutes at a time, to limit their exposure.
Health Minister Yoko Komiyama raised the limit on the amount of radiation to which each worker can lawfully be exposed from 100 millisieverts to 250.
The average annual exposure for nuclear power plant workers is 20 millisieverts and most don't absorb more than one millisievert in a year.
Keiichi Nakagawa, associate professor of the Department of Radiology at the University of Tokyo Hospital, said: "I don't know any other way to say it, but this is like suicide fighters in a war."
Two workers are missing after the four explosions and fires at the plant since Friday.
One worker who was opening a valve to let out a build-up of steam was taken to hospital complaining of nausea and exhaustion after being exposed to 10 minutes of radiation.
Another 23 have been injured and 19, plus an unknown number of firemen, have been exposed to lower levels of radiation.
Plant operator the Tokyo Electric Power Company has said almost nothing about the workers, who remain anonymous, but made it clear they are racing against time to prevent a "critical meltdown".
A team of 34 US atomic experts is also now on the ground in Japan, equipped with ground and aerial hardware to monitor the radiation leaks.
American ambassador John Roos denied their presence shows a lack of trust in Japan's handling of the crisis.
It is virtually impossible to talk to the workers by phone. But the message came out from one that he was "not afraid to die" - that was his job, the Herald Sun reported.
The families of these brave men may never see them again, but they are proud of their sacrifice.
A 27-year-old woman, whose Twitter name is @NamicoAoto, tweeted that her father had volunteered for Fukushima duty.
"I heard that he volunteered even though he will be retiring in just half a year and my eyes are filling up with tears," she said.
"At home, he doesn't seem like someone who could handle big jobs. But today, I was really proud of him. I pray for his safe return."
Another loved one says in an email: "My father is still working at the plant. He says he's accepted his fate, much like a death sentence."
Prime Minister Naota Kan told the volunteers: "You are the only ones who can resolve a crisis. Retreat is unthinkable."
In shifts of 50, they are working in total darkness using flashlights or helmets with lamps on them.
Wearing head-to-toe protective gear and breathing through oxygen tanks as radiation reaches potentially lethal levels and temperatures soar, they crawl through dark mazes of pipes to make an adjustment on a valve, to read a gauge.
Nuclear experts say the skeleton crew is most likely not made up of managers but technicians, including firefighters, who know the plant inside out.
They are more likely to be skilled older men than fit young ones because they have already had children and even if they are exposed to massive amounts of radiation their cancers are unlikely to develop to a fatal stage in their lifetime.
The volunteers are being rotated in and out of the danger zone, often for only 10 or 15 minutes at a time, to limit their exposure.
Health Minister Yoko Komiyama raised the limit on the amount of radiation to which each worker can lawfully be exposed from 100 millisieverts to 250.
The average annual exposure for nuclear power plant workers is 20 millisieverts and most don't absorb more than one millisievert in a year.
Keiichi Nakagawa, associate professor of the Department of Radiology at the University of Tokyo Hospital, said: "I don't know any other way to say it, but this is like suicide fighters in a war."
Two workers are missing after the four explosions and fires at the plant since Friday.
One worker who was opening a valve to let out a build-up of steam was taken to hospital complaining of nausea and exhaustion after being exposed to 10 minutes of radiation.
Another 23 have been injured and 19, plus an unknown number of firemen, have been exposed to lower levels of radiation.
Plant operator the Tokyo Electric Power Company has said almost nothing about the workers, who remain anonymous, but made it clear they are racing against time to prevent a "critical meltdown".
A team of 34 US atomic experts is also now on the ground in Japan, equipped with ground and aerial hardware to monitor the radiation leaks.
American ambassador John Roos denied their presence shows a lack of trust in Japan's handling of the crisis.
