Japan nuclear crisis: Fukushima 50 'expect to die'

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: The Telegraph

Workers who have been fighting to bring the reactors under control at Japan’s strick nuclear plant expect to die from radiation sickness, according to the mother of one of the men.

By Danielle Demetriou in Tokyo 9:00PM BST 31 Mar 2011

The so-called Fukushima 50, the group of around 300 technicians, soldiers and firemen who work in shifts of 50, have been exposed repeatedly to dangerously high radioactive levels as they attempt to avert a nuclear disaster.

The mother of one of the men has admitted that the group have discussed their situation and have accepted that death is a strong possibility.

“My son and his colleagues have discussed it at length and they have committed themselves to die if necessary in the long-term.”



Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/8419808/Japan-nuclear-crisis-Fukushima-50-expect-to-die.html#

[hlthe2b]

1. I expected this to be the case but it is hard to see it expressed....

Those are some very brave and honorable individuals whose sacrifice can not go unanswered. We must learn from this experience and those lessons need to be global.

[lumpy]

2. Hear hear

nt

[DeSwiss]

6. Agreed.

- However, because those who believe they own the world think they can abuse it anyway they please, I know that we won't. Not without a fight.

K&R

[Moostache]

20. No...fuck THAT....we can do BETTER than glum acceptance.

These people - American, European, Asian, whatever - these oligarchs and tyrants that bear indirect but inescapable culpability here, they must be brought to justice. It is the greed of these men that leads to the deaths of these modern day 300. The fact is that profits and money concerns are what led to cutting corners and reducing or downplaying safety concerns.

Its not only nuclear, its coal (miners dying globally and every day), its oil (BP disaster is not yet 12 months old and still the extent of it), gas (fracking that causes explosive WATER???)....energy production is NOT something that should be left to private industry and farmed out for profit...if EVER there was a legitimate use of military spending, it would be to nationalize and run ALL electricity and energy production in America.

National Health Care.
National Energy Production and Security.

Spend $490 BILLION ON THAT instead of bullets, guns, bombs, tanks and planes to drop on foreign lands....get THAT message out there and you can change the world forever.

You want "security"? Better stop worrying about Arabs in caves and deserts and START worrying about secure and safe energy production in the USA. Need jobs right? Well, this stuff is not going to build and run itself.

[snappyturtle]

3. .......

:cry:

[Baclava]

4. It's way more than 50 - 'the group of around 300 technicians, who work in shifts of 50'

Probably more like 500

Horrible

[calimary]

22. Yeah. Unbelievable.

Those poor people - what a sacrifice that is. Staggering. And yeah - HORRIBLE.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

5. heros for sure whose bodies will have to be disposed of in nuke waste facility

[Atypical Liberal]

7. And of course the people who PROFIT from these reactors...

They'll probably just collect their bonuses and move on.

In the old day's they'd be expected to sepuku.

[Tumbulu]

8. prayers of thanks to all of them

I send my gratitude to them and their families and friends.

How terribly sad and how incredible of them to do this for all the rest of the living creatures.

[colorado_ufo]

9. If you are religious,

please pray for them, for wisdom and strength to accomplish their task and, hopefully, for healing and survival; and pray for their families, for strength and peace.

[Auntie Bush]

11. You don't have to be religious to pray for them. Even an Agnostic

can pray as Agnostic's question if there is a God...so why not give it a try...won't hurt! Spiritualists who may not be religious will/can Pray...So I'll happily do my best for all those poor families. I know I sure would pray if my son was one of those hero workers. God bless them! (If there is one)

[lunatica]

10. If they die from the radiaton I hope they don't die in vain

I hope their families and children are compensated for years of lost wages in the future. They are the epitome of heroes.

[SoulSearcher]

15. Surely YES !!? but no story has any mention of that yet

[trud]

12. Someone should tell that Mom

that of all the workers there, three have been exposed to an amount of radiation that required treatment - those were the guys who stepped into the radioactive water. And those were not exposed to an amount that will result in permanent damage after treatment.

But, keep the hysteria coming. I would be so disappointed in DU, which is now ranking with the Birthers for irrationality, if I didn't see a few posts like this every day.

[abqmufc]

13. According to the industry I am sure 50 to 1000 deaths are an acceptable risk.

It always amazes me when I read environmental risk analysis how many deaths or health impacts are deemed OK. In the eyes of a capitalist 'the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.'

[AtheistCrusader]

17. How many died when Okura dam let go?

This is the left half of the dam. Nobody even seems to be speculating on the number killed with the 2,000+ homes downstream that got obliterated when that dam let go.




Another risk/reward analysis that went awry.

[abqmufc]

18. Damn, don't get me started on dams....:) n/t

Lake Powell and Glen Canyon dam is my local nemesis. How many tribal hunting grounds, burial sites, and herb gathering locations were lost due to flooding the Glenn Canyon? Maybe not actual lives, but clearly a way to ruin cultural identity to Tribal citizens. The slow method of genocide is stripping a culture of its identity and way of life.

Good reference on the Okura dam!

[CreekDog]

21. Especially when Glen Canyon dam doesn't provide any water

and as for power, it provides some power, but they built a coal burning power plant close by to provide the other half.

so the power this was supposed to generate cleanly, is not clean.

and the arguments of needing water in the desert are a lie, because this dam doesn't provide water to anything --oh it's a big lake, but it doesn't water crops, it doesn't provide drinking water, etc. it was actually built to meet some water compacts and make sure Northern States didn't lose their allotment.

all incredibly destructive, all for benefits that are all on paper.

[abqmufc]

23. As Ed Abbey said, Lake Foul makes a nice backdrop for a house boat....nothing more.

[Mnemosyne]

14. May their suffering be as brief as possible. Swift passage. K&R n/t

[damntexdem]

16. Simple orientation to reality.

And heroic efforts in the face of such reality.

[sofa king]

19. Some tough folks, those.

I for one thank them.

[marasinghe]

24. these are warriors.