"Fukushima 50"

[JayGoliath]

"Please continue to live well. I cannot be home for a while." These words have come to encapsulate the struggle of the emerging heroes of Japan's nuclear crisis.

Already comparisons have been drawn between the "Fukushima 50" and "Los 33" – the miners trapped in the Chilean mine last year. But the analogy does not fit. In Chile, a nation hoped and prayed for the safety of the trapped men. Here, they look to the workers at Fukushima to ensure their own safety, bringing to mind Churchill's most oft-repeated quotation: "Never... was so much owed by so many to so few."

Sigh....only if we can gather much bravados each day to face the adversaries..

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...ell-i-cannot-be-home-for-a-while-2245411.html

 

[Gorog]

Dude, that is serious stuff...it makes me feel like a piece of sh**, whining about how bad I feel, while those samurai-esque Fukushima 50 in Japan risk their livelihood, manhood, and their very lives to save hundreds of thousands of others. I mean, what is a little headache and stomachache when compared to the suffering unleashed by nuclear radiation? These dudes are practically the living dead, yet they can summon the human courage and resolve, these beastly awesome people can sacrifice everything they are, just to save people who might not even remember their sacrifice....D**n...bushido lives on in the blood and brains of the Japanese. No more complaining for me, man. Nothing like a bunch of Japanese heroes to get you off your a** and into the day, right? If the Fukushima 50 make it out alive, though they will probably never be the same, those people better rethink extinguishing the samurai way. Sometimes, just the human resolve and determination can take the place of a thousand machines. They are the last line of defense. Let's all hope that they make it and preserve their country from further disaster.D**n.

 

[Steely_Gunz]

It's an incredible story. I mean to do all of this, and to know you have a pretty good chance of dying from it. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but a decade from now they may suffer an excruciating end for being the heroes Japan needs right now.

Smoke and prayers up for the brave souls...and all of Japan.

 

[Zixinus]

The sad thing is that a lot of the problems that the boiling piece of nightmare Fukushima is right now could have been avoided if the company taking care of it would have been arsed to do the upgrades. Upgrades that have been thought of and implemented after TMI but were somehow forgotten to be done on Fukushima. After all, Fukushima wasn't the only plant affected by the tsunami + earthquake. It was merely the most out-of-date one.

However, I am a bit annoyed at how much attention is on Fukushima just because the word "nuclear" is in it. The plant is not as much danger or poses as much threat as the news loves to make it out to be. It is nothing compared to the mind-numbing catastrophe that happened all over Japan, some of which likely triggered accidents far worse than what Fukushima could archive.
If you don't know what I am talking about, just add these words: industrial waste + tsunami that could wash out entire houses.

Kudos to the people in Fukushima. Under days, they have done everything they could to keep the sitaution under control, even when new, unexpected problems started to show up (the fuel pool burning).

 

[OldPhysics]

Frankly, it is part of Japanese culture. When a life threatening emergency happens ... a lot of Japanese men will quietly step forward to serve. With no fanfare, no ticker tape, no expectation of profit or fame; just a whole lot of Asian machismo.

I have a lot of respect for these men. They know what will likely happen to them, and still they serve.:thumbup:

 

[Zixinus]

To be frank, they knew the moment they signed up: part of working in a nuclear reactor is knowing that something like this could happen and that it's their duty to keep on top of things. It's like serving on a ship (civilian ship even): most of the time it's boring and dull, but if there is an accident, you know that's part of the job and keep things together.

 

[Gorog]

Sorry for the profanity everyone, I was out of line, as usual.

 

[OldPhysics]

To be frank, they knew the moment they signed up: part of working in a nuclear reactor is knowing that something like this could happen and that it's their duty to keep on top of things. It's like serving on a ship (civilian ship even): most of the time it's boring and dull, but if there is an accident, you know that's part of the job and keep things together.

True.

But, in my considerable experience, when push does come to shove ... very few people can hold it together. Yes, training helps a lot, but when it comes down to the final point ... as it has for these men ... you've got to give respect to those who quietly stay and get the job done.

 

[orca8589]

Reminds me of Anatoly Grishchenko - the helicopter pilot in the USSR who dumped material on Chernobyl. Pretty much a death sentence, and he knew it, but he kept at it for three days. (There were others there too, of course.)

Thank God for these kinds heroes. I can only hope I would have even a small measure of the courage these men have, if I'm ever called on to do something like this.

Smoke & prayers up for them and their families.

~Chris