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Japanese Nuclear Plant Workers Say Radiation Death Is Inevitable
By
Ben Yakas
Published Apr 1, 2011
Modified Apr 1, 2011
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Digital Globe/Reuters
By
Ben Yakas
Published Apr 1, 2011
Modified Apr 1, 2011
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The Fukushima 50, the Japanese technicians who chose to stay behind in the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to try to avert a meltdown after the deadly tsunami hit Japan last month, have reportedly resigned themselves to the fact that many or most of them will likely die in the upcoming weeks and months from radiation poisoning. “My son and his colleagues have discussed it at length and they have committed themselves to die if necessary to save the nation. He told me they have accepted they will all probably die from radiation sickness in the short term or cancer in the long-term,” the mother of a 32-year-old worker told FoxNews.
The workers have been struggling to prevent a meltdown to the four reactors which were critically damaged in the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Since then, radiation has been leaking from the complex, contaminating food produced in surrounding farmland and seeping into groundwater beneath the site. Radiation has been detected in at least a 25 mile radius of the plant, and the workers, who wear nothing more than hazard suits sealed with duct tape, have been the most directly exposed. Around Japan, they have become heroes, and are known as atomic "samurai."
But they are also fully aware of the realities of working so closely to the damaged reactors: “They have concluded between themselves that it is inevitable some of them may die within weeks or months. They know it is impossible for them not to have been exposed to lethal doses of radiation,” said the mother.
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fukushima
japan
nuclear plant
poisoning
radiation
tsunami
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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