Japanese Fire Fighters tell families "We won't be coming home"

[nipsen]

The question is... Is it needed?

..what happens is that the reactor cores are going to be shut down long before any earthquakes or tsunamis. That was successful, so they avoided the situation they had in Chernobyl, where a core burned up because of an uncontrolled chain-reaction.

But the problem is that there's typically nuclear fuel left in the reactor that needs to be cooled for a number of days to prevent damage on the reactor.. along with explosions, facility breaches, contamination of the air and water, etc. And, ultimately, damages to the core, which could cause a meltdown in the end.

So since the cooling systems that were supposed to work didn't - got damaged in the tsunami, most likely, that means cooling the reactor until the excess fuel is spent is going to be.. critical. That's why they're doing this, as well as probably flooding the reactor periodically with seawater (...have we gotten any news-reports with "explosions sighted at the plant" yet?). It's not preferable because of all kinds of reasons, but the alternative is obviously much worse.

..besides, TEPCO suddenly can't hide the magnitude of the disaster any more either. Real heroes.

 

[mageroel]

These men are true heroes, to die saving others is the greatest cause. I hope they survive, if not only to let that stupid woman see that God loves them anyway, if you believe in that sorta thing. That aside, my thoughts are with them.

 

[Withall]

These people are heroes. Bravest group of people I can think of. Should they survive, they should be venerated as such. If not, may they pass knowning that they helped their home, and the world as a whole.

 

[Cowabungaa]

This theme is just made for them:
*salutes* Now that is bravery. Only few people could stand up to such a challenge. May their names live on forever.

Anyway, last time I heard they were well underway with fixing the powerlines to the cooling systems, so maybe they don't have to sacrifice themselves.

 

[gl1koz3]

You know what? Japanese... and all their robo-tech, and they are STILL using people to fix the reactors. They've been approaching their problems from the wrong direction all this time.

 

[Carne]

I think it's funny that it's been mentioned a few times that almost everything related to this story is a hoax made up by western media. The reactors are not nearly as bad as we are making them out to be. Apparently none of these fireman have died and it's likely they will all survive.

That said, good luck to them.

 

[Blood Countess]

if you want a picture of a hero these guys are it and yeah I got tears reading that.

 

[SNIPERFOX ft. Harry P.Ness]

brave, brave men indeed. hope some MIGHT survive to tell their story.

also, where's that coolant the US was sending?

 

[ZeroDotZero]

It was only a matter of time before it came to this. Something similar happened at Chernobyl, too. I can only hope that their sacrifices prevent the meltdown.

 

[Meowshi]

I would not have done that. Wow.

 

[Thaluikhain]

That map = Completely Debunked.
There were reports of increased radiation in California today, also debunked.

People, this is sensationalism at its finest. The events happening are no way near serious as the media is making it out to be, it's perfect for tabloid journalism. I highly doubt any of these men are going to die in the coming weeks of radiation poisoning, this ain't Chernobyl. Also, it's Sky News.

Note, I am not trying to devalue what the workers at the reactors are doing right now, they are risking their bodies to get this shit under control. But this story reeks of fake, if workers are exposed to too much radiation they are replaced.

Yeah...the article spends half it's time talking about Chernobyl, and cites "nuclear experts" it doesn't bother to name or give the organisations they worked for, as saying they are going to die. Yes, you might say "I won't be coming home soon" if you were going to die, but equally, if the job you were doing would take awhile. Similar articles seem to be cutting and pasting the same lines, aging citing nothing and nobody.

I have seen no mention of suicide teams in the media coverage I get of the disaster, and it seems the articles which actually cite sources are saying there isn't such a problem.

But what really annoys me is that all this scare mongering and outright lying is coming in the middle of an actual fucking disaster. There are thousands of people still in danger, thousands trying to help them, and thousands already dead who hav enothing to do with the nuclear plant, but most of the media doesn't seem to care unless they get to say "nuclear".

 

[Buizel91]

Probably the most touching thing i have seen all week =\


Lets hope some survive.

 

[mikeysnakes]

I can see that I'm not the only person who thinks this, but I'm pretty certain most of this story is fake. There are a lot of awful, fake, sensationalist reports coming out of this, and I know that map that was posted is total bullshit because I live 112 miles southwest of Fukushima and while it's not the direction, I would still probably be dead if there was enough deadly radiation to travel that kind of distance without becoming negligible. Also there has been a lot of talk here about how this situation is so difficult because the people helping out at Daiichi can only work an hour and can't go back for another year because they will have received the maximum radiation level the government allows (which is a level right under that which causes acute radiation sickness). They seem to have been doing great work thankfully since tuesday, but I'm pretty sure the Japanese government is going to try their best from having anyone contaminated.

Seriously watch out what you read on this subject; Tokyo is not a ghost town, there are not a lot of food shortages outside of Fukushima, Miyagi Prefecture and other badly effected areas, and while background radiation in Tokyo did have a small spike on tuesday, it was still very well under carcinogenic levels and only lasted about 4 hours then it mostly returned to normal.

Oh yeah, and as someone who has been watching NHK religiously, I can tell you I have never heard the term Samurai Warriors or Nuclear Ninjas used to describe the firefighters. I don't think many Japanese nationals would be cool with that nickname during such a crisis.

 

[FamoFunk]

Heartbreaking.

They really are heroes, giving their life up to save others, how many people would do that?

Nothing but respect.

 

[nipsen]

I can see that I'm not the only person who thinks this, but I'm pretty certain most of this story is fake. There are a lot of awful, fake, sensationalist reports coming out of this, and I know that map that was posted is total bullshit because I live 112 miles southwest of Fukushima(...)

Aha! So you admit you are biased! j/k

No, I think you're probably right there's a lot of extreme news-stories going on, with people stupidly diving into the emotional outrage over Japan/nuclear disaster. If someone started calling up experts from Hiroshima, I wouldn't be surprised at all..

You can read about the state of the reactors at IAEA, though. Basically, all cores shut down, but remaining fuel in the reactors will continue to be a concern for some time. And will need dangerous emergency efforts for a week or so, or until cooling systems can be repaired. But "experts" going on about Chernobyl are full of shit, of course. Assuming the IAEA reports are good, it's far, far away from being that bad..

Still - going to bank pretty heavily on that TEPCO didn't give the proper info to the right channels as early as possible, trying to avoid a whack on their reputation. And that this will have increased the precaution anxiety in the prefecture government..

 

[misty55]

The CEOs/bosses/shareholders should be cleaning up the mess and not firemen and police

 

[Scarim Coral]

Wait WHAT??!!! I am very shock at just how brave and selfless they are. They will not be forgotten.

 

[mikeysnakes]

I can see that I'm not the only person who thinks this, but I'm pretty certain most of this story is fake. There are a lot of awful, fake, sensationalist reports coming out of this, and I know that map that was posted is total bullshit because I live 112 miles southwest of Fukushima(...)

Aha! So you admit you are biased! j/k

No, I think you're probably right there's a lot of extreme news-stories going on, with people stupidly diving into the emotional outrage over Japan/nuclear disaster. If someone started calling up experts from Hiroshima, I wouldn't be surprised at all..

You can read about the state of the reactors at IAEA, though. Basically, all cores shut down, but remaining fuel in the reactors will continue to be a concern for some time. And will need dangerous emergency efforts for a week or so, or until cooling systems can be repaired. But "experts" going on about Chernobyl are full of shit, of course. Assuming the IAEA reports are good, it's far, far away from being that bad..

Still - going to bank pretty heavily on that TEPCO didn't give the proper info to the right channels as early as possible, trying to avoid a whack on their reputation. And that this will have increased the precaution anxiety in the prefecture government..

Haha well, looking again at the map it said that the red zone was 3000 rads, I'm pretty sure your thyroids would burst at that level if not your entire body. 3000 rads would be 3,000,000 milli sieverts which is nowhere near the numbers reported on the plants grounds (I think around 380mSv was).

But yeah, I don't know exactly why everyone's getting on Tepco about the information given, I still haven't seen anything to show that they actually played it down, but a lot of Japanese nationals tell me they don't trust Tepco because of past incidents so maybe their already bad reputation is reason enough for people to be skeptical.

It's difficult to see articles like this for me, because all week I've been dealing with people who have read crazy news articles telling me about how dangerous it is, when it just isn't. Not yet at least, and I'm of course hoping it wont ever be.

 

[Arqus_Zed]

Damn, talk about respect and honor.

Godspeed brave warriors, godspeed...

 

[Kevon Huggins]

thats honor to the max they deserve medals my prays go out to them