First pictures emerge of the Fukushima Fifty

[divvy]

First pictures emerge of the Fukushima Fifty as they battle radiation poisoning to save Japan's stricken nuclear power plant

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1369216/Fukushima-Fifty-First-pictures-emerge-inside-Japans-stricken-nuclear-power-plant.html

[Maru Kitteh]

1. Wow. Thanks for the photots. n/t

[liberal N proud]

2. K&R

[liberalmuse]

3. I hope effin' TEPCO pays their families MILLIONS.

Somehow I doubt it and they'll be lucky to get more than a meager pension when these workers die horrific deaths from radiation poisoning. God I detest energy companies. The executives, de-regulators and lobbyists for these bastards should be there giving their lives. Not these brave men and women.

[cali]

4. there is no fukushima 50

it's 200+ working in shifts.

[divvy]

5. the workforce has evolved

Fukushima 50 was a term coined in the early stages of emergency response. There was some loss of personnel as employees cared / searched for their loved ones at home. It is reasonable to assume that some employees were killed outright as a result the tsunami. Corporate response was slowed by communication blackouts and the logistics of locating and relocating available employees from other areas. In some nearby places, the debris field was roughly 30 feet deep.

Tomorrow there may be 1000 workers. The fact remains that in the beginning .... there were 50. Some have already died from radiation exposure as a result of their efforts. Others have serious radiation sickness.

Like it or not ...... they ARE hero's

[caraher]

6. Link?

"Some have already died from radiation exposure as a result of their efforts. Others have serious radiation sickness."

I do know workers have died of other causes... I believe one died in a crane accident around the time of the first hydrogen explosions. The highest dose I've read about to a single worker was 10 rem pretty early on - high, but not likely to cause obvious symptoms, let alone death. I'm sure many workers have received a LOT of exposure since then...

But I do agree that "heroic" is a perfectly correct word for their efforts in the face of very real danger...

[w4rma]

7. The OP is the link.

"Five are believed to have already died and 15 are injured while others have said they know the radiation will kill them."

[divvy]

8. here is a reference

From the original link

Five are believed to have already died and 15 are injured while others have said they know the radiation will kill them.
The original 50 brave souls were later joined by 150 colleagues and rotated in teams to limit their exposure to the radiation spewing from over-heating spent fuel rods after a series of explosions at the site. They were today joined by scores more workers.
Japan has rallied behind the workers with relatives telling of heart-breaking messages sent at the height of the crisis.


A woman said her husband continued to work while fully aware he was being bombarded with radiation. In a heartbreaking email, he told his wife: 'Please continue to live well, I cannot be home for a while.'
One girl tweeted in a message translated by ABC: 'My dad went to the nuclear plant, I've never seen my mother cry so hard. People at the plant are struggling, sacrificing themselves to protect you. Please dad come back alive.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1369216/Japan-nuclear-crisis-Fukushima-Fifty-pictures-inside-nuclear-power-plant.html

[caraher]

15. It's strange that the Daily Mail is the only source I can find on 5 deaths

And even that sentence is not clearly attributing the deaths to radiation; it mentions death and a belief on the part of some that they will be killed by radiation.

Elsewhere I've found that at least 17 have reached the elevated emergency dose limit and several workers suffered burns from beta radiation while working with their feet underwater at the plant.

Again, a fatal radiation dose is quite possible in this emergency - you just have to be in the wrong place at the wrong time once. But it's strange that there's so little reporting apart from this one article if there really have been 5 acute radiation exposure deaths.

[Kablooie]

9. They all volunteered knowing they would probably die and are all over 55.

They decided that they have already lived their lives so were willing to give them up for the good of all.

[City Lights]

10. The three men hospitalized today for radiation exposure are in their 20s/30s.

3 workers exposed to high radiation, 2 sustain possible burns

TOKYO, March 24, Kyodo

Three workers were exposed to high-level radiation Thursday while laying cable at the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, and two of them were taken to hospital due to possible radiation burns to their feet, the nuclear safety agency and the plant operator said.

The three men in their 20s and 30s were exposed to radiation amounting to 173 to 180 millisieverts at around 12:10 p.m. while laying cable underground at the No. 3 reactor's turbine building.

The two hospitalized are workers of plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s affiliated firm and had their feet under water while carrying out the work from 10 a.m., according to the utility known as TEPCO and the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.

The two, who were diagnosed with possible beta ray burns at a Fukushima hospital, will later be sent to the National Institute of Radiological Sciences in Chiba Prefecture, the agency said.

more... http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/03/80799.html

[Kablooie]

11. Well there goes the validity of my statement. Oh well.

I heard it from my wife whose Japanese.
She read it in the Japanese news so I don't have a reference.

[City Lights]

12. I heard that earlier, too, and was surprised to read about the three injured

men in their 20s or 30s.

[Uncle Joe]

13. For some reason I'm reminded of the trapped coal miners in Chile, of course this is worse.

Thanks for the pics, divvy.:thumbsup:

[bobbolink]

14. Arigato for these brave human beings!

:patriot:

[tblue37]

16. Brave, brave, brave. I wish them well, but I fear for them. nt