JAPAN: Recovery workers at Japan's crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant worry the recovery could take decades, one year after the country's worst ever nuclear accident

Record ID: 275699

  • Title: JAPAN: Recovery workers at Japan's crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant worry the recovery could take decades, one year after the country's worst ever nuclear accident
  • Date: 29th February 2012
  • Summary: FUTABA, FUKUSHIMA PREFECTURE, JAPAN (FEBRUARY 28, 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF JOURNALISTS IN WHITE PROTECTIVE CLOTHES RIDING IN BUS VARIOUS OF BUS RUNNING THROUGH DAMAGED BUILDINGS INSIDE FUKUSHIMA DAIICHI COMPLEX RUBBLE NEAR BUILDINGS JOURNALISTS LOOKING AT CRIPPLED NUCLEAR REACTORS CRIPPLED REACTORS RADIATION LEVEL COUNTER READING: "130 MICROSIEVERT" DAMAGED BUILDIN
  • Embargoed: 15th March 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan, Japan
  • City:
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Disasters,Health
  • Reuters ID: LVA25H820R02H5OMGK0W340IUALP
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: Workers at Japan's crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on Tuesday (February 28) said they wanted to end the country's nuclear crisis in their lifetime, but worried it could drag on for 20 years.
    The workers spoke one year after a mega earthquake and tsunami knocked out the six-reactor plant on the coast, 240 km (150 miles) northeast of Tokyo, triggering the world's worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl 25 years ago.
    Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), the operator of Daiichi, said conditions for thousands of recovery workers have improved significantly, but one of the workers Reuters met on the edge of the 20-kilometer (12.4-miles) no-entry zone said he is worried about the radiation's long-term health effects.
    "I'm worrying about harmful effects of the radiation that may come to effect in the future," said Kazumaru Sasaki, a 41-year-old recovery worker who has been rebuilding the washed-away breakwaters at Daiichi facility.
    Sasaki was one of the more than 3,000 recovery workers lodged at or commuting through J-Village, a facility originally for the national soccer team which has been used as a staging area for the Fukushima Daiichi clean up since March 2011.
    Tepco has said radiation levels at some locations inside the Daiichi facility have been as high as 10,000 millisieverts per hour, though at the time they added their equipment was unable to measure any higher than this.
    Japan's nuclear safety agency has said emergency workers are not allowed to be exposed to more than 250 millisieverts per year, although Tepco has acknowledged that dozens of workers have exceeded this, with many as high as five time this amount.
    Worker like 45-year-old Sadao Kurokawa say that despite the ongoing risks with working in this environment, they want to finish the clean-up as soon as they can.
    "The government is talking about 20 years to completely resolve the accident, but I want to be a little help to bring the end closer for the local residents -- that is my only wish," said Kurokawa, who's been cleaning-up rubble and rebuilding roads for the last six months at only 100 meters (33 feet) away from the wrecked reactor No.4.
    The Japanese government declared in December that the plant should be in "cold shutdown," a state in which the water containing fuel rods maintains temperature under boiling point, but also said that it will take two to three decades to fully decommission the power station.
    However many have expressed a determination that their sons and daughters will not inherit the mess from this accident.
    "We will end this crisis in our generation and will not let our children take over this work," said Tatsuya Tamaki, a 51-year-old contract worker at Daiichi.
    Only a few kilometers away from where the workers were talking about their worries and hopes for the future, a group of journalists were shepherded by Tepco officials through the plant for the third time since the meltdown of the plant's reactors.
    The backup power systems meant to keep its radioactive fuel cool were disabled during the March earthquake and tsunami, leading to meltdowns, explosions and radiation spewing into the environment, forcing the evacuation of more than 80,000 residents.
    Fukushima Daiichi was built in a poor region on Japan's Pacific Coast to supply power to Tokyo.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register