Japanese Workers committing the Ultimate Sacrifice:
During the early hours on May 5, 2011, Japanese workers entered a reactor building at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant for the first time since the horrific 9.0 earthquake and ensuing tsunami rocked the facility.
The facility’s operator, the Tokyo Electric Power Company, stated that the workers went into the No. 1 reactor building before noon (local time) to install air ducts for a ventilation system that will ultimately reduce radioactive substance by filtering of the toxic air.
During this entry, radioactive levels remain extremely potent and dangerous; however, once the radioactive contamination is reduced through the placement of the ventilation system, workers will be able to stay in the hot-spot longer to install a cooling system. If all goes well, the cooling system will be used to produce a cold shutdown of the damaged reactor.
The Tokyo Electric Company hopes to diminish the contamination to levels suitable for additional work in a two to three day timeframe. At this juncture, workers will be able to stay for extended periods while wearing protective suits, masks and air tanks.
The plant, located roughly 150 miles north of Tokyo, had its cooling systems destroyed when the massive tsunami struck the nation’s Pacific coast as a result of a tremendous earthquake on March 11th.
In addition to the visible mayhem caused by the disaster, the nation experienced the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl, when the cores of the plant’s reactors overheated and spewed obscene amounts of radioactive contamination across the surrounding areas.
The storage units that housed reactors 1 and 2 were torn apart by hydrogen explosions in the first days of the disaster. The cataclysmic event led to mass evacuations of roughly 80,000 people leaving within a 12-mile radius of the plant.
Although devastation rocked the country, Japanese workers have exhibited incredible bravery and sacrifice throughout the restoration process. The Tokyo Electric company has stated, as a result of the valiant efforts of the plant’s workers, that a complete shutdown of the plant is possible in as little as six months.