Bloggery » March 17th, 2011
2 Missing Fukushima Engineers
They are known as the “Fukushima 50″ and they are none other than the 50 brave engineers trying to control the radiation leakage in the Fukushima reactor. Two of them are missing after an explosion and fire at one of the reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant yesterday and a new fire there today. The latest fire, in No 4 reactor, is out but Japan today temporarily suspended operations to save its stricken nuclear power plant from meltdown after a sudden spike in radiation made it too dangerous for the engineers to remain at the facility.
Picture taken during the third explosion at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant where engineers are struggling to avoid a nuclear catastrophe
He told a press conference this afternoon that workers at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant – a skeleton crew of about 50 to 70 – had temporarily stopped filling the troubled reactors with water. Reuters reported that the workers had since resumed operations. As rescue workers search for survivors after last Friday’s devastating earthquake and tsunami, and emergency crews and aid agencies try to cope with about half a million people left homeless, a handful of engineers are risking their lives to try to contain the nation’s nuclear crisis.
The workers, who were not identified, were in the turbine area of the No.4 reactor at the plant, which has been shaken by four reactor explosions since last Friday.
About 50 to 70 engineers remain at the site of the plant, after hundreds of other staff members were evacuated. “You are the only ones who can resolve the crisis. Retreat is unthinkable,” the FT reported Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan as telling the crew.
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