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The Fukushima 50: Not afraid to die
CBS News ^ | March 15, 2011 | Jim Axelrod

Posted on 03/15/2011 5:20:23 PM PDT by Eyes Unclouded

Since the disaster struck in Japan, about 800 workers have been evacuated from the damaged nuclear complex in Fukushima. The radiation danger is that great.

However, CBS News correspondent Jim Axelrod reports that a handful have stayed on the job, risking their lives, to try to save the lives of countless people they don't even know.

Although communication with the workers inside the nuclear plant is nearly impossible, a CBS News consultant spoke to a Japanese official who made contact with one of the 50 inside the control center.

The official said that his friend, one of the Fukushima 50, told him that he was not afraid to die, that that was his job.

Cham Dallas, who led teams responding to the Chernobyl disaster, said that kind of response is not out of the normal for some workers in the nuclear energy sector.

"(In) my experience of people in the action area of nuclear power is much like that," Dallas said.

The 50 are working amid decreasing but still dangerously high levels of radiation.

"The longer they stay the more dangerous it becomes for them," said expert Margaret Harding. "I think it is a testament to their guts for them to say, 'We'll stay and if that means we go, we go.'"

If the contamination threat isn't contained in a few weeks, finding enough workers willing to face the risks could become a crucial challenge.

Dallas said he expects that in that scenario, the Japanese energy authorities may have to find volunteers willing to undergo similar dangers, which will be hard to do, but not impossible.

Keep in mind they'd be volunteering to head into a place so potentially dangerous, that anyone within 20 miles of it was just asked to evacuate.


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Japan; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bravery; earthquake; fukushima; japan; tsunami
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To: Larry Lucido

It was kinda sorta like a generalization. A perentheticality.


21 posted on 03/15/2011 5:30:10 PM PDT by bigheadfred (THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE HAS BEGUN)
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Comment #22 Removed by Moderator

To: Eyes Unclouded

Indeed they are brave, courageous heroes.

And keep in mind if the plants are at this point...

what does that really say about the dire situation in there.

I said it yesterday...they took out 750 people and left 50. What can 50 do that the 750 could not do?

May God bless them.


23 posted on 03/15/2011 5:32:36 PM PDT by EBH ( Whether you eat your bread or see it vanish into a looter's stomach, is an absolute.)
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To: Joe 6-pack

I agree. Typical Japanese mindset.


24 posted on 03/15/2011 5:33:08 PM PDT by BunnySlippers (I love BULL MARKETS . . .)
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To: Eyes Unclouded

The people that are there on site working on those things are heroes, IMO.

They very well could die as a result of their work and they have to know it, but they do it anyway, because they are the only ones who can.


25 posted on 03/15/2011 5:33:08 PM PDT by KoRn (Department of Homeland Security, Certified - "Right Wing Extremist")
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To: Eyes Unclouded

May God Bless them and keep them safe.

They are heroes.


26 posted on 03/15/2011 5:33:49 PM PDT by NoLibZone (Impeach Obama, then try him for treason. / Homosexuals reject diversity.)
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To: Eyes Unclouded

May the Lord bless them and keep them, may the Lord make his face to shine upon them, may the Lord be gracious unto them. May He lift up his countenance upon them and give them peace. I neither know nor care their particular religious affiliations, but I DO know who they’re working for.


27 posted on 03/15/2011 5:33:53 PM PDT by 75thOVI ("The crews of all submarines captured should be treated as pirates and hanged". Sir Arthur Wilson)
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To: Eyes Unclouded
Nuclear Samurai.
28 posted on 03/15/2011 5:35:07 PM PDT by Polynikes (Haakkaa Paalle)
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To: Eyes Unclouded
Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear.

- Ambrose Redmoon

29 posted on 03/15/2011 5:36:39 PM PDT by Traveler59 ( Truth is a journey, not a destination.)
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To: Polynikes

Read one story that the US military helped put out fire #1 at Reactor #4.


30 posted on 03/15/2011 5:37:25 PM PDT by justa-hairyape
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To: BartMan1; Nailbiter; Forecaster

“Where do they get these men?”


31 posted on 03/15/2011 5:38:27 PM PDT by IncPen (Educating Barack Obama has been the most expensive project in human history)
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To: EBH
I said it yesterday...they took out 750 people and left 50. What can 50 do that the 750 could not do?

Your point makes no sense. The plant isn't in normal operation. There are always "non-essential" personnel who are simply unnecessary in a "crisis" situation. These are essential "first responders" and maybe a few outside experts.

Whether their efforts end up killing them or not, heroes all.

32 posted on 03/15/2011 5:39:32 PM PDT by newzjunkey (Obama: president until Fri, Jan. 20, 2017.)
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To: Eyes Unclouded

I admire them greatly, even before this story. but I have to say that I am having a harder and harder time believing anything the media is putting out on this whole story. Creating greater fear, misinformation, unnecessary drama where things are already horrible. The media just paints things blacker than they are in some cases.

Did you hear Diane Sawyer being amazed and touched in her segment that the Japenese are still recycling? I guess there is something wrong with me, but it made me want to barf. The last thing I would worry about it I thought my days were literally numbered is if I should put #2 PET in the proper container!


33 posted on 03/15/2011 5:40:56 PM PDT by kevslisababy
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To: Eyes Unclouded; Black Agnes

Brave, selfless men. Many already lost their families and homes. No greater love.


34 posted on 03/15/2011 5:41:09 PM PDT by Travis McGee (www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: MadMax, the Grinning Reaper

It’s also very possible that not all 50 are Japanese. I think GE built the plant, so the 50 could include an American or two, or Euros and/or others.

At this point in the disaster, nationality or ethnicity isn’t, or shouldn’t be, an issue. Tho, we do tend to attribute this extreme work ethic to the Japanese, our military, police, firemen, etc., face potential life-ending threats every day when they report to duty.


35 posted on 03/15/2011 5:41:09 PM PDT by EDINVA
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To: Larry Lucido

Bears repeating. God be with them.


36 posted on 03/15/2011 5:41:25 PM PDT by stevio (God, guns, guts.)
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To: Eyes Unclouded
Keep in mind they'd be volunteering to head into a place so potentially dangerous, that anyone within 20 miles of it was just asked to evacuate.

This is misleading by CBS or a screwup of km/mi. Within 20km (12mi) were told to evacuate. 10km (18mi out and closer) beyond that are told to "evacuate in place," in other words stay inside where they are.

37 posted on 03/15/2011 5:45:46 PM PDT by newzjunkey (Obama: president until Fri, Jan. 20, 2017.)
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To: newzjunkey
Within 20km (12mi) were told to evacuate. 10km (18mi out and closer) beyond that are told to "evacuate in place," in other words stay inside where they are.

Thought the reason they told them that was because they could not give them enough warning to evacuate safely ?

38 posted on 03/15/2011 5:47:57 PM PDT by justa-hairyape
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To: Eyes Unclouded
". . . be resolved that duty is heavier than a mountain, while death is lighter than a feather." —First Precept of the Imperial Rescript to Japanese Soldiers and Sailors
39 posted on 03/15/2011 5:48:33 PM PDT by GreenLanternCorps ("Barack Obama" is Swahili for "Jimmy Carter".)
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To: EBH

Actually, I think the only “plant” that is in danger is Fukushima. The first and oldest of Japan’s plants.

Don’t let the laimstream confuse you with the number of reactors, with the number of plants. Each “plant” has a number of “reactors.”

I forget what the next oldest plant is, but only one or two reactors at those plants are a problem.

The newer “plants” are having little or no problems with “reactors.”

Just keep in mind, if this were ANY OTHER COUNTRY, the results would be mind boggling. The Japanese are on the cutting edge. The fact that they were just a little “overwhelmed” should not be lost.

They are holding their own, thanks to brave souls.

And yes, Japan still possesses the “Bushido” spirit. It lives in the heart of every one of those men who have committed their lives so that Japan can survive.

An earlier post labeled them “Nuclear Samurai.” And so they are. They will find their resting place in Yasukuni Jinja, where they deserve to be.


40 posted on 03/15/2011 5:51:37 PM PDT by ConradofMontferrat (e)
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