The 50 heroes from Fukushima

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Hernanes

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I opened this thread to honour the 50 workers who are sacrifying their lifes in the atomic plant for the whole country. With the dosis of 400 millisievert an hour they get, they will have a rest lifetime of about a week. However there are not only those 50 workers, but also the other rescue teams which sacrifice themselves for helping other people.

This thread should also be about self-sacrifices in general. What do you think about this?

Personally I think that I couldn't do such a thing. Knowing that your life is ending in a few hours is probably one of the most horrible scenarios which people can imagine.
 
One of the most courageous things I have heard. They are prepared to suffer terrible pain just to try and prevent and disaster in their country. Amazing.
 
Not heard of this before now , so courageous to stop anyone else from they're country being harmed.
 
Thats the thing. They won't want an award or anything. They'll sacrifice themselves for the sake of their country. Honour and pride. The bravery is absolutely beyond belief. I have to hold my hands up and say, I just couldn't do what they have done. What they'll go through I just don't want to even think about, but at the back of my mind its there.
 
'Fukushima heroes' battle to tame nuclear plant as Japan watches
Elite squad of technicians face fire, radiation and exhaustion in cramped and potentially lethal conditions to cool reactors


The men and women struggling to avert disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant are becoming the faceless heroes of the worst nuclear crisis in Japan's history.

The 70 or so technicians and engineers have been working under the constant threat of radiation sickness, fires and explosions since they became the sole occupants of an area that has become a no-go zone for tens of thousands of petrified residents.

With more than 700 of their colleagues pulled out to safety, the workers are fighting a lonely battle on several fronts in the war against nuclear meltdown. Their workload is heavy, but the weight of expectation, in Japan and around the world, is greater still.

For all their bravery, little is known about the workers themselves. Tokyo Electric Power [Tepco] has released few details of its elite team, other than those pertaining to the task ahead: to cool overheating reactors and storage pools, and avert disaster.

They are working in hot, cramped conditions, clad in white, full-body jumpsuits and working in shifts to prevent the contamination and exhaustion.

They are equipped with respirator and torches, and when radiation doses spike to hazardous levels, as they did on Wednesday morning, they must be ready to take refuge in "safe" areas of the complex.

The operation has already taken its toll. Eleven people, including members of the self-defence forces, were injured in a hydrogen explosion at its No 3 reactor.

Other nuclear power employees, as well as the wider population, can only look on in admiration. "The people working at these plants are fighting without running away," Michiko Otsuki, an employee at the nearby Fukushima Daini plant, wrote on the Japanese social networking site Mixi.

"Please don't forget that there are people who are working to protect everyone's lives in exchange for their own."

The prime minister, Naoto Kan, who has reportedly criticised Tepco executives for their handling of the crisis, has only praise for their employees. They are "doing their utmost," Kan said, "even at this moment, without even thinking twice about the dangers".

For as long as the workers remain inside the plant they will mitigate the substantial risks to their health by "dose sharing" – or splitting their time between areas of high and low levels of radioactivity – according to Dr Ian Haslam, head of radiation protection at the University of Leeds.

But abandoning the operation could spell disaster, he said. "They need to be at the plant to take the measures to keep it under control," he said.

"If they move away they are not keeping it under control.

"If you let it go, it will get hotter and hotter, there's a risk of fire, and you're changing from this present rate of release, which is worrying but at a relatively low risk, to something that becomes a higher risk both now and in the future."

Most can only speculate about the conditions under which they are working. Andriy Chudinov, one of the first workers to enter the Chernobyl power plant in 1986, said his Japanese counterparts were, if anything, even more courageous.

"These are good guys," he said. "After all, they have had it even worse than we did. They had a tsunami first and now there are several reactors with problems. That's a nightmare for any atomic worker."

David Brenner, the director of radiological research at Columbia Service, pointed to the significant risks the workers are taking with their health.

"In many ways they are already heroes," he told the BBC World Service. "[They] are going to be suffering very high radiation exposures."
 
They are the unsung heroes. My respect goes out to them.

No way in **** could I even attempt that, let alone do it.
 
Forget our celebrities taking the spotlight in the news, these heroes deserve the fame. Every one of them deserves a medal of the highest honour. I couldn't do what they are doing, the utmost luck to them
 
Forget our celebrities taking the spotlight in the news, these heroes deserve the fame. Every one of them deserves a medal of the highest honour. I couldn't do what they are doing, the utmost luck to them

Guarenteed, before long the papers will be back with Jordan or some lowlife on the front page. Sad really.
 
There are now some people who offered their aid as volunteers. One of them has already written a farewell letter. They go there, even that they know they will probably die. My greatest respect for those people. I hope they can manage to stop the catastroph
 
Japanese people have a traditional sense of duty that goes way back in time. Some time ago, they were willing to die just for honor. Then, they were willing to die for their masters. We've all heard, seen or at least know about the Kamikaze willing to die for their Emperor, and their nation. Now they're willing to die for a more noble cause - the common people. I do think, however, that in those circumstances most ordinary men would be willing to go through with this. I think I would (It's easy to be an armchair hero though). The alternative is much worse when you think about the big picture, and as much as I think human beings are deeply flawed, I know that deep inside most of us have a little bit of selflessness when it comes to crucial moments.

That said, I hope for a quick and satisfying outcome to this catastrophe, however unlikely, and I hope they survive to tell the tale, and are given the proper recognition denied to so many other heroes in our time.
 
They should be given a monument. However the workers who build up the concrete sarcophagus in Tschernobyl should also be given a monument. People usually forget about this, but if they didn't do that, the whole east europe would now be radioactively contamined. It was very important and most of these workers died after this.
 
Absolutely amazing. As the ones who did the similar in Chernobil.

True heroes, respect.
 
They Deserve serious repect and like honour i mean i don't know anyone who would do that... but Japan is a much different culture to ours i mean they still believe in respect and honour lie way of the Samuri and going down fighting impossible odds... i mean if you wanna look for something to inspire you look to Japan and there behavoiur during the aftermath of the quake.
Serious Respect to them people and i really hope they can get up from this and rebuild there economy
 
They should be given a monument. However the workers who build up the concrete sarcophagus in Tschernobyl should also be given a monument. People usually forget about this, but if they didn't do that, the whole east europe would now be radioactively contamined. It was very important and most of these workers died after this.

I know there's one for the firefighters who first arrived at the scene, so I'd assume there would be one for the other people.
 
Churchill is very apt:

"Never was so much owed by so many to so few."

Unbelievable courage.
 
the word Hero gets used to often and for very trivial things ie sport etc

these are heros in the truest sense, a selfless act devoid of any financial gain, also these men/women choose to perform these acts even though they knew the sacrifice, and maybe never seeing their family again. I for one could never do this, for our families yes, but for strangers never.

I hope they know of the gratitude japan and even the world owes them even before they die.

good luck
 
The Japanese have always been known for the bravery, In the second world war they was told if they retreated and turned back they where an embarresement to thier familys name, and their name would be an embarresment for eternity. Therefore not many Japanese did retreat and if They did their genral would probably shoot them. There astonishing bravery is impossible for me too even think what its like, I for one dont think I am that strong to sacrifice my life.
 
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