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

[Still Life]

For those of you that haven't heard:

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Fukushima-Nuclear-Plant-Workers-Are-Heroes-After-Risking-Own-Lives-To-Avert-Meltdown-In-Japan/Article/201103315954904?lpos=World_News_First_Home_Article_Teaser_Region_1&lid=ARTICLE_15954904_Fukushima_Nuclear_Plant_Workers_Are_Heroes_After_Risking_Own_Lives_To_Avert_Meltdown_In_Japan_

A number of Japanese firefighters have essentially volunteered for a suicide corps to save Japan. These men have volunteered to stay at the reactor site to continually douse it with water to keep it cool and stable. The radiation levels are so high that these poor men are expected to start dropping dead within the next few weeks, despite any radiation suits. Some have started losing their hair already.

These men called their families today and told them that they loved them, and that this was their final goodbye to their wives and children.

My heart goes out to these brave, brave men. Men that are giving their lives in order to save Japan. I can only imagine the trauma and despair that the families are going through.

In short, this thread is a memorial to the brave souls that have volunteered to die to save their country and loved ones.

That's just real life badassery, right there. Who needs second rate Hollywood 'blockbusters' and their hero semantics when you have a bunch of everyday Japanese firefighters.

In all seriousness: my heart goes out to these men and their families.

 

[Jegsimmons]

man, this goes to show how we take heroes that put their lives on the line everyday for granted.

i do hope they succeed and come back alive somehow, even if its a one in a million shot.
Godspeed.

 

[cahtush]

this make me wanna punch those ignorant american bastards whos saying "god did it as revenge for pearl harbor". seriously these firefighters are true heroes

 

[cahtush]

the radiations to high, i think. you would need atleast a dm of lead on all sides to keep the gamma radiation out

 

[JWAN]

Most armored vehicles these days has something called N.B.C. protection (nuclear, biological, chemical). I have no idea why not one country can supply one vehicle with a pump and hose baylayer to pump seawater onto that reactor site.
Russia/United States/China are both right there in the region and I'm sure the Japanese have trained using all of those systems.

I kind of get why not, I'm thinking it's time critical and they can't let up while they get the equipment in. What stuns me is that there's no equipment like that already there.

Firstly I'd think that nuclear accidents in Japan would be a real public worry seeing as they are the only country ever attacked with nuclear weapons. It seems like something they'd have just to reassure the public.

Secondly 'what happens if it melts down' would literally be one of the first questions I'd ask when commissioning a reactor. Probably the third, right behind 'can it blow up' and 'how much power again'?

I just heard that they were making progress and that crew might not have to stay as long as expected. Apparently the other reactors are circulating water and #4 is also improving. I just hope that its soon enough to save these guys.
On your other point, Im pretty sure that the Japanese have some APC's with NBC protection but your right about those modifications. Japan isn't exactly in the "producing" mode right now.

 

[Blind marskman]

The only thing that can save you from uranium radiation is an 8m thick wall of cement, those mens ae an example for everyone

 

[derdeutschmachine]

I can only hope that I'd have that kind of courage if the situation ever came to my doorstep. Makes anything I could do for Japan seem excrutiatingly insignificant. Good luck to those men. Can only hope that they somehow make it though and see their families again.

 

[Kelethor]

Wow...These men are incredibly brave. Good luck to them, and Godspeed.

 

[supermariner]

That's a sacrifice i probably wouldn't be able to bring myself to make
these men don't need my opinion on their input really
but this is an incredible thing for anyone to do
and probably the most noble thing i've ever heard

providing it's all true obviously
i've done no research whatsoever but i'm assuming this is all true

 

[Jabberwock xeno]

Even with radation suits?

It's fucking 2011! we've known about how harmful this shit is for like 70 years right?

Argh, damn it.

These guys have won my respect...



Wait.

This is fucking japan! Why can't we send in remote control robots! Even some kid in a garage can build something to do this inetead of people, and japan is the world leader of this tech!

Lol, radiation suites...

Actually, what they wear is CONTAMINATION suits. The goal is to keep particles that are radioactive from entering the body and doing internal harm. Radiation penetrates all matter. You can use fixed and portable shielding sources to lessen it, but it takes heavy materials to really do this. Wearing several inches of lead, for example, would quickly fatigue any worker past any useful ability.

Robots are cool and all, but very specialized in purpose and extremely expensive. We are years away from Androids doing all our work for us.

But all they need to do is move around water right?

We wave robots that can drag around injureid people in warzones, can they not just cary bucket of water, then knock the over wherever it is needed?

They don't just need water, they need alot of water moving over the reactor. Generally, they have water moving over the core with large pumps, and that water is being cooled by another source. Dumping buckets of water won't really cut it. We need fire hoses to get enough of a steady supply to cool the reactor.

Oh, and we have known about radiation for over a hundred years.

Than that be even should be easier!

Hook a really long hose or pump to a source of water further away, send a remote control robot with the end stuck on top of it, then turn the pump on back from the source.

 

[The Black Ghost]

This is extremely brave and selfless, but in reality I dont beleive they will die. The radiation levels, while high, are still survivable and the electricity to the plant is supposed to come back in a few days, which will allow them to pump in water without risking people up close. So hopefully they'll be alright.

 

[Enkidu88]

*Snip*

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".

Yeah, kinda reminds me of the Hurricane Katrina Superdome thing. During the disaster reporters were saying there were mass gang rapes, murders, and over 100 people dead. Then when rescuers reached the superdome there were only 6 people dead, and no one could corroborate the stories of gang violence, rapes or anything else. 0_o

But if this story is true, my heart is out to those firefighters. Even if that report is exaggerated, people working at the reactor will still be at risk for developing cancer way down the line, so either way they're performing a very heroic act.

 

[mikeysnakes]

Secondly 'what happens if it melts down' would literally be one of the first questions I'd ask when commissioning a reactor. Probably the third, right behind 'can it blow up' and 'how much power again'?

A lot of articles (sorry I'm too lazy to pull them up) have said that the type of reactor that's being used cannot, in the sense you're thinking of, explode. The danger and threat that effects more than the immediate area is a steam explosion, which would be much less harmful than the explosion at Chernobyl but I really haven't found anything that says how far it would or wouldn't spread. Besides that, if it does meltdown which is a bit different, the nuclear fuel will drop and as far as I have come to understand they will try to encase it. This would mean the immediate area would get a heavy dose, but the amount of radiation would be negligible in areas outside of East Fukushima. But if that happens, the evacuation zone they've made will probably stay evacuated for a much longer time, and a lot of plants and wildlife within that zone will die.

 

[mjc0961]

As I understand it spraying the thing with water is only a very temporary solution. They need to actually fix the thing before it blows, but from what I have been hearing that may not be possible.

If they were going into the plant to fix the problem that would be worth dying for, but spraying the thing with water isn't worth their lives. This has been going on for a while now, how many firefighters need to get hit with radiation before they let the thing blow or fix the problem? Dying in order to save people is noble, throwing your life away in order to buy another few days.. meh. At this point anyone who wanted to get out of the blast radious could have done so. It's tragic to think that they may have to let it blow, but let's be honest, Japan can handle a nuke going off inside it's borders.

Oh, is that all they need? To fix it? Well shit, I've had this "Fix nuclear reactor" button sitting on my desk, I guess I should have pushed it for them earlier. My bad.

Seriously, what is wrong with you? If they let it melt down, a lot more people will die than just the very brave people willing to sacrifice themselves to keep it cool. And they are doing this so the people working very hard to try and fix it right now can have enough time to get it fixed so it doesn't melt down and kill a lot more people. It's not some simple and quick fix you seem to be thinking they should have done already, otherwise they would have it fixed by now and nobody would have to sacrifice themselves like that.

You should seriously think before you go spouting off utter nonsense like that in the future.

 

[PrimaVita]

Good luck you brave souls. And fight on.

 

[The Afrodactyl]

I've recieved one or two messages from people. I'm confirming here and now that the government did not decide to send these men to their deaths. They volunteered themselves. Stop inboxing me telling me that the news is lying to me.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Most armored vehicles these days has something called N.B.C. protection (nuclear, biological, chemical). I have no idea why not one country can supply one vehicle with a pump and hose baylayer to pump seawater onto that reactor site.
Russia/United States/China are both right there in the region and I'm sure the Japanese have trained using all of those systems.

Actually, they call it CBRN or CBRNe nowdays. But yes, if what was reported was happening, such a thing conceivably could be used.

Which leads me to agree with:

What a bullshit article.
Radiation levels are high around the plant every now and again, but even then "high" is a relative term. High, compared to what?
Official information is scarce, presumably because the situation is constantly changing but nothing I have read suggests that this is true.

Just another bunch of journalist wackos quoting out of context and stitching lines together to get more page hits.

 

[mikeysnakes]

I've recieved one or two messages from people. I'm confirming here and now that the government did not decide to send these men to their deaths. They volunteered themselves. Stop inboxing me telling me that the news is lying to me.

I'm sure you're getting a lot of messages about this, but no matter what that story isn't mentioned by other news organizations and actually goes against everything else that's been said on the situation.

This is a link on a statement Tepco made about its employees and their safety (note 250mSv is just under the levels that cause radiation sickness):
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/19_07.html

Also this talks about how the firefighters are using an unmanned vehicle in order to carry out the operation:
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/19_14.html

No mistake, these people are definitely taking a big risk to their personal health and well being, but the idea that they are being sent to their deaths willingly or not is ludicrous. I'm not blaming you of course, it's the news organization's fault.

 

[theonlyblaze2]

Doesn't Japan hve robots for this? I mean, there is one that can wipe your ass, but not one that can point a hose and shoot water?