Atomic Samurai -- IAEA Humbled By Worker Courage at Fukushima Daiichi

[Octafish]

Atomic Samurai



June 2, 2011, 8:03 AM JST.

IAEA Humbled By Worker Courage at Fukushima Daiichi

By Mitsuru Obe
Japan Real Time WSJ

When a fact-finding mission of the International Atomic Energy Agency landed in the tsunami-battered Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex last Friday, they thought they knew about the situation there. What they discovered was devastation beyond their imagination.

“All of us, when we stood there and looked across at the plant, the pictures do not give justice to the utter devastation that we saw there,” team leader Michael Weightman recalled at a news conference in Tokyo Wednesday.

SNIP...

The first thing the 18 experts in the mission team did was hold talks with workers on the site in detail. What they heard was that on March 11, after the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami blacked out the entire complex, workers had to feel their way in the pitch-black building to vent reactors to prevent them from exploding. They had no idea whether radiation was leaking around them, because all instruments and gauges were out of commission.

SNIP...

If Mr. Weightman was unstinting in heaping praise on workers, he didn’t mince his words on criticizing Japan’s government on the lack of independent regulatory oversight. Regulatory agencies should be independent not just in legal structure, but in the resources and the expertise they have available to them, he said.

CONTINUED...

http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2011/06/02/iaea-humbled-by-worker-courage-at-fukushima-daiichi/

[Donnachaidh]

1. kick and Rec! n/t

[Octafish]

4. We 'came close' to losing northern Japan -- Michio Kaku

We 'came close' to losing northern Japan

Famed physicist Michio Kaku says northern Japan was almost lost to a "100% core melt" in the Fukushima nuclear accident.

Posted by Steve Frank - Digital Producer

TOKYO, Japan (CNN) - Two of the damaged reactors at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan may be plagued with holes, according to the owner of the plant.

The holes may be as big as 7 to 10 centimeters ( 2.8- 3.9 inches), the plant owner Tokyo Electric Power Co. said in a 225-page document submitted to Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.

In the report, Tokyo Electric says the containment vessel of reactor No. 1 may have developed a hole as big as 3 centimeters in diameter 18 hours after the quake.

Fifty hours after the quake, the hole may have widened to 7 centimeters, the report said.

CONTINUED...

http://inthearena.blogs.cnn.com/2011/05/31/we-came-close-to-losing-northern-japan/

[AndyTiedye]

2. K/R

[Octafish]

5. Chernobyl 'jumper' airs Fukushima fears

At Fukushima, workers face monumental task and dangers.



Chernobyl 'jumper' airs Fukushima fears

By SITI RAHIL
Kyodo
Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Singapore — Sergei Belyakov, a scientist who helped clean up debris after the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, is worried about Japanese workers now risking their lives to contain the aftermath of core meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.

SNIP...

"My way to deal with (the fear) was to break the task into smaller pieces, my whole idea was to run to that level a couple of times, just to make sure that I get to that point.

"I told myself I got to go five steps in that direction, make a couple of steps left or right because it is an area that is indicated by flags, that it is highly radioactive stuff. Once you do that, you take one step at a time.

"What's wrong with stepping two steps to the ladder and then while you are there nothing happens, what's wrong now with climbing up, and you go round the corner, you see that reactor open, nothing, you are still alive, that's physically how you do it," he explained.

CONTINUED...

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110601f2.html

[Wilms]

3. ^

[Octafish]

6. Fukushima plant workers' protective gear displayed

Fukushima plant workers' protective gear displayed

The Yomiuri Shimbun

Tokyo Electric Power Co. has displayed the full-body protective gear worn by workers at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant as they try to bring the reactors under control.

Nonwoven-textile coveralls, rubber gloves, socks and full-face masks equipped with filters prevent radioactive particles from touching workers' skin or being inhaled, according to the utility firm.

The masks have replaceable filters and can be reused, but the rest of the gear is thrown away after a single use.

SNIP...

About 2,000 protective suits are supplied per day to workers at TEPCO plants.

SOURCE: http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110529002325.htm

[AsahinaKimi]

7. The true meaning of Samurai is ...

To Serve. He is truly serving his country.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-23DaHEkJPis/Ta68SDodkjI/AAAAAAAAAGo/Qk5qAT2XnGM/s1600/Samurai+Fighters.gif
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDh7F5H1C9I

頑張れ日本 !!

[Octafish]

8. Selfless Service

Incredible devotion, bravery, focus, endurance, intelligence...Samurai.



Persevere and forward Japan, your true nature!

[AsahinaKimi]

9. Unlimited...

The 50, so much bravery, like those from the Anime, "Samurai 7" .. This song is for them!


(English Translation)

Our encounter comes like a storm changing my heart
If we're together, I'm not afraid of anything even the end of the world

We're able to understand each other and to share with each other like bubbles
Obscured by the sands of time unable to hold on I gave up 'till I saw you again, asking

"How much pain have you been carrying all alone?
And how much loneliness is hidden behind your eyes when you smile?"

Embrace this miracle of an encounter now by gazing upon each other we can become stronger
And if this isn't what you call love then, what is it you call love now?

"Maybe you're not the person I thought you were"
But it was this love that called the shots I don't regret the choices I made

Time could stop right now and I would feel no anxiety
Like this, in your arms I closed my eyes and searched for eternity

Like magic, meeting you erased all the pain from my heart
If you don't call this destiny then what do you call destiny?

Embrace this miracle of an encounter now by gazing upon each other we can become stronger
And if this isn't what you call love then, what is it you call love now?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDh7F5H1C9I

(Japanese Lyrics)
Lyrics: Aikawa Nanase
Composition: Shibasaki Hiroshi
Performed by Aikawa Nanase

deai ha arashi no youni otozurete watashi no kokoro kaete shimau
isshoni ireba nanimo kowakunai kono sekai no owari sae

wakari aeru koto mo wakachi au koto mo utakata no youni
toki no suna ni magire tsukami kirenai to akirameteta anata ni au made ha

"dore kurai itami wo hitori de kakaete kite tano?
dore kurai sabashisa hitomi ni kakushite hohoen dano?"

deai no kiseki wo ima dakishimete mitsume attara tsuyoku nareru
kore wo ai to yobanai tosuru nara ima, dore wo ai to yobu no?

"kimi ga omou youna hito dehanai ga mo boku ha shirenakute"
sore demo kimeta no ha kono omoi no mama eranda koto ni nanimo kuihanai

kono mama de jikan ga tomareba fuan mo nai noni
kono mama de, ude no naka eien sagashite hitomi wo tojita

deai ha mahou no youni isshun de mune no itami mo keshite shimau
kore wo unmei to yobanai tosureba ima, dore wo unmei to yobu no?

deai no kiseki wo ima dakishimete mitsume attara tsuyoku nareru
kore wo ai to yobanai tosuru nara ima, dore wo ai to yobu no?

**http://www.animelyrics.com/anime/samurai7/unlimited.htm

[Octafish]

10. Doctor describes fatigue of workers at Fukushima nuclear plant

Thank you for helping us see how the tradition continues to be expressed in our modern culture, AsahinaKimi. As a frustrated cartoonist, I appreciate the role played by the form. Here's David R. Arnott's visual reportage from inside Fukushima Dai'ichi:



Doctor describes fatigue of workers at Fukushima nuclear plant

Mind over matter, indeed and in deed.