Relatives of Tokyo Electric Power Co. workers assigned to avert a nuclear catastrophe at the quake-ravaged Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant have called on the Japanese government and people not to abandon their loved ones.
About 50 workers were left battling to prevent a nuclear meltdown at the plant even when TEPCO temporarily withdrew all non-essential staff on Tuesday.
Four of the plant's six reactors are in a dangerous condition. The small corps of workers is dousing the reactors with water to prevent a meltdown while desperately trying to restore a cooling system that might stabilize the reactors.
The wife of one worker said she received word from her husband at the plant in a text message late on the night of March 11, hours after the magnitude-9.0 temblor rocked the facility.
The message was abrupt: "I'm alright."
She had to wait another four days before she received a short text message.
"We're running out of drinking water. I feel like I'm coming down with something," the second message said.
She said she wondered whether her husband and other workers left behind in the facility could carry out their duties in such dire conditions.
Another family member of the same worker said: "Perhaps they are unable to say anything because, as Tokyo Electric employees, they are in the most responsible position. As kin, we would like to see something done right away for them."
The worker's family said they could not watch TV coverage of the situation at the nuclear power plant.
A relative of another TEPCO employee asked: "Was there no way that the government and whole nation could have done something earlier?"
A relative of the worker who was evacuated from the facility on Tuesday described an employee torn between sense of duty and a wish to be with their family.
The relative quoted the evacuated worker saying: "I thought I would never see you again. But I also feel bad about walking away alone."
The employee, who had been at the facility since March 11, said TEPCO staff had scrambled to get power from car batteries and small diesel generators in the hope of jump-starting the emergency core cooling system (ECCS) after the earthquake and tsunami crippled vital equipment and power supplies. The efforts failed.
"The most frustrating thing was that the external electricity supply had been cut off," the employee added.
Immediately after the quake, several hundred TEPCO employees and affiliated workers took turns trying to repair the damage but their work was frustrated by repeated aftershocks, the family members said.
Workers have been working without sleep. Some have a hard time swallowing the stored biscuits and packs of cooked rice with which they are being fed.
High levels of stress caused by working in a facility faced with the danger of exploding, in which exposure to radiation is a constant worry and in which a complete nuclear meltdown is a real possibility are being aggravated by some media coverage. Televised news conferences in which tense exchanges between reporters and TEPCO officials yield little positive information have affected the morale of some inside the plant.
"The outside world doesn't seem to realize what is going on inside. At one point I even thought that the company had given up on us," the evacuated employee said.
"I also thought that we should not leave until it is safe enough for nearby residents to return," the employee added.
More here
[The "Fukushima 50" as the workers have come to be known have been the object of profound gratitude and admiration in Japan and elsewhere. --Editor]
About 50 workers were left battling to prevent a nuclear meltdown at the plant even when TEPCO temporarily withdrew all non-essential staff on Tuesday.
Four of the plant's six reactors are in a dangerous condition. The small corps of workers is dousing the reactors with water to prevent a meltdown while desperately trying to restore a cooling system that might stabilize the reactors.
The wife of one worker said she received word from her husband at the plant in a text message late on the night of March 11, hours after the magnitude-9.0 temblor rocked the facility.
The message was abrupt: "I'm alright."
She had to wait another four days before she received a short text message.
"We're running out of drinking water. I feel like I'm coming down with something," the second message said.
She said she wondered whether her husband and other workers left behind in the facility could carry out their duties in such dire conditions.
Another family member of the same worker said: "Perhaps they are unable to say anything because, as Tokyo Electric employees, they are in the most responsible position. As kin, we would like to see something done right away for them."
The worker's family said they could not watch TV coverage of the situation at the nuclear power plant.
A relative of another TEPCO employee asked: "Was there no way that the government and whole nation could have done something earlier?"
A relative of the worker who was evacuated from the facility on Tuesday described an employee torn between sense of duty and a wish to be with their family.
The relative quoted the evacuated worker saying: "I thought I would never see you again. But I also feel bad about walking away alone."
The employee, who had been at the facility since March 11, said TEPCO staff had scrambled to get power from car batteries and small diesel generators in the hope of jump-starting the emergency core cooling system (ECCS) after the earthquake and tsunami crippled vital equipment and power supplies. The efforts failed.
"The most frustrating thing was that the external electricity supply had been cut off," the employee added.
Immediately after the quake, several hundred TEPCO employees and affiliated workers took turns trying to repair the damage but their work was frustrated by repeated aftershocks, the family members said.
Workers have been working without sleep. Some have a hard time swallowing the stored biscuits and packs of cooked rice with which they are being fed.
High levels of stress caused by working in a facility faced with the danger of exploding, in which exposure to radiation is a constant worry and in which a complete nuclear meltdown is a real possibility are being aggravated by some media coverage. Televised news conferences in which tense exchanges between reporters and TEPCO officials yield little positive information have affected the morale of some inside the plant.
"The outside world doesn't seem to realize what is going on inside. At one point I even thought that the company had given up on us," the evacuated employee said.
"I also thought that we should not leave until it is safe enough for nearby residents to return," the employee added.
More here
[The "Fukushima 50" as the workers have come to be known have been the object of profound gratitude and admiration in Japan and elsewhere. --Editor]
The incident exposes the now obvious fact the Nuclear Power is dangerous on many levels.
ReplyDeleteMay God bless and keep these brave ones.
ReplyDelete6:32 nuclear power is not dangerous. Building nuclear power station in the region with hish seismic activity is not dangerous.
ReplyDeleteThe waste is poisonous for ever. That is ultimately and inherently dangerous.
ReplyDelete