People working at the nuclear plants with a lot of fears

The problem of radioactive substances has attracted people's attention both in Japan and the world.
To check the fact of this, I saw lots of news and even learned about the system of nuclear plants.

I can say that the current radioactive level is safe for people in Tokyo and it shouldn't get any worries as of now.
The exposure to the air doesn't affect any bad on us. It is not harmful to be outside at all.

To tell the truth, however, I'm not sure how it will go in a next few days. I mean Tokyo will stay being safe, but am not sure about Fukushima where the plants are.
Fuel rods of some of the plants were exposed to the air, and people there are working to get the the fuel rods cooled down by water. This is not an easy situation.
I wrote about it here (What Is happening With Nuclear Plants)

Two new projects were carried out today and they are still going.

One was to drop the water directly from helicopters. The plan was postponed at first in consideration of radioactive risk to people who engage in the project. They excuted after it gets lower risk.
However, I guess the effect of this was very small.

Second was to spray water by water trucks from a distance of 50 meters.
This try has a very high risk for workers' health because they need to come very close to the plants. Although they wear a very special suits which blocks radiation, they cannot block all radioactive substances.
In addition, the amount of radioactive substances people receive greatly decreases by the distance. For example, the amount becomes 1/4 if you are 2 meters away from the site, and becomes 1/9 to 3 meters.
Therefore, workers got very large amounts of radioactivities.


In a past entry, I told the fact that my father had worked for TEPCO. He retired from the company last year after 40 years of his work.
Although he was not an engineer, he often worked at the sites. Every time when accidents occur such as typhoons, he stayed and worked all night. When I was a kid, I was very nervous about him when he didn't come home because of the work.
I have once asked him about his motivation for the work. He said that he and the company have a strong responsibility to keep people's lives. If the company stops, it means all social activities are lost. People in hospitals would be taken their lives by blackouts and all people would get deep anxiety in dark nights.


I heard about 700 employees are working with being exposed to radiation at the nuclear plants, and some of my father's colleagues might be working there. I called him and he said it might be possible.
The situation they are in is just terrible. I think they have a lot of anxiety, but they decide to work at the risk of their lives.

A news told us that there were many veteran employees voluntarily willing to go and work there. They are ready to sacrifice themselves and want to save young engineers.
I was actually about to cry when I heard this news.

All workers have their family and I'm sure they want to spend time with them. However, they are now working for the people and the country.
If the same situation happens to my father, I think I stop him from going there but I'm sure he goes to work with his responsibility and a thought on people.

So, I want all of you to know that this is the thing happening now in Japan.
The leak of radioactive substances has been focused, but there are many people working for us with being exposed to the radiations at the nuclear plants.