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.
I think a good nickname for them would be “The Dragon Slayers”. Let's hope they can tame this beast.
Prayers and Godspeed.
Radiation surged from you’ll die within weeks to you’ll die within hours but after some minutes you won’t be in working condition anyway.
They are gonna have to either wait for things to cool down, send in robots, or just send in wave after wave. It isn’t like nuclear technicians grow on trees either.
You are familiar with that concept right? The idiots that started that mentality during WWII were the Japanese military elite, content on drumming the Japanese populace into a neo-bushido frenzy to fulfill their perverted goals.
It’s really sad that someone has to mention WWII to justify something about some Japanese plant workers that are willing to die to protect others.
Don’t worry, you don’t have to write a reply, I accept your apology.
Well said. Thank you for your perspective.
I heard somewhere - maybe Fox News - that they’re considering cooling the rods via channeling sea-water from helicopters. Not exactly sure how this works, or whether that will lesson radiation exposure.
God bless them.
Think Forrest fire fighting.
It's been a few years, but my recollection is that there are three types of radiation involved here: Alpha, Beta and Gamma. Alpha is stopped by just about anything (it's basically a helium atom IIRC), and Beta can be stopped by clothing or other similar 'armor'.
Gamma needs about 6 inches of concrete or a good heavy layer of lead plate to keep out. In other words, there are no suits that can protect you from gamma radiation. You just need to get the heck out of dodge when it comes to gamma radiation, and leave the clean-up to robots or extremely well-shielded bulldozers (like a main battle tank or something).
Reports have come in that the workers have been pulled out due to a sudden upswing in radiation levels. Let’s all still hope for the best possible outcome.
They are northern California, Oregon, Washington State and British Columbia heroes too.
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