Japan's hopes ride on Fukushima bravehearts

[KS]

Japan's hopes ride on Fukushima bravehearts​

A small crew of technicians, braving radiation and fire, became the only people remaining at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station on Tuesday — and perhaps Japan's last chance of preventing a broader nuclear catastrophe.

They crawl through labyrinths of equipment in utter darkness pierced only by their flashlights, listening for periodic explosions as hydrogen gas escaping from crippled reactors ignites on contact with air. They breathe through uncomfortable respirators or carry heavy oxygen tanks on their backs. They wear fullbody jumpsuits that provide scant protection from the invisible radiation sleeting through their bodies.

They are the faceless 50, the unnamed operators who stayed behind. They have volunteered, or been assigned, to pump seawater on dangerously exposed nuclear fuel, already thought to be partly melting and spewing radioactive material, to prevent full meltdowns that could throw thousands of tons of radioactive dust high into the air and imperil millions of their compatriots.

The staff were briefly evacuated on Wednesday after smoke rose above the plant and radiation levels spiked, but then were allowed to return to continue their work — amid jitters about eventual widespread contamination.
The workers are being asked to make escalating — and perhaps existential — sacrifices that so far are being only implicitly acknowledged . Tokyo Electric Power, the plant's operator, has said almost nothing at all about the workers, including how long a worker is expected to endure exposure.

The few details Tokyo Electric has made available paint a dire picture. Five workers have died since the quake and 22 more have been injured for various reasons, while two are missing. One worker was hospitalized after suddenly grasping his chest and finding himself unable to stand, and another needed treatment after receiving a blast of radiation near a damaged reactor. Eleven workers were injured in an explosion at reactor No 3.

The reactor operators face extraordinary risks. Tokyo Electric evacuated 750 emergency staff members from the stricken plant on Tuesday, leaving only about 50, when radiation levels soared. By comparison, standard staffing levels at the three active General Electric reactors on the site would be 10 to 12 people apiece including supervisors — an indication that the small crew left behind is barely larger than the contingent on duty on a quiet day.

The site is now so contaminated with radiation, experts say, that it has become difficult for employees to work near the reactors for extended periods of time. According to one expert's account of nuclear emergency procedures, workers would be cycled in and out of the worst-hit parts of the plant.

Nuclear reactor operators say that their profession is typified by the same kind of esprit de corps found among elite military units. "You have an obligation to stay at the facility," Michael Friedlander, a former senior operator at three American power plants, said. "There is a sense of loyalty and camaraderie." Adding to this natural bonding, jobs in Japan confer identity, command loyalty and inspire a particularly fervent kind of dedication.