Fukushima 50
Following the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami on 11 March 2011, a related series of nuclear accidents resulted in melting of the cores of three reactors.
[1][2] After TEPCO management proposed withdrawing all its employees from the plant on 14 March,[3] additional manpower was deployed from around Japan.
[11] Two other workers, Kazuhiko Kokubo, 24, and Yoshiki Terashima, 21, were killed by the tsunami while conducting emergency repairs immediately after the quake.
Their activities included assessing the damage and radiation levels caused by the explosions, cooling stricken reactors with seawater, and preventing any risk of fire.
[13] Levels of radiation on site are far higher than in the 20 km (12 mi) exclusion zone and media outlets reported that the severity of the situation could have grave implications on their future health, with possibly fatal consequences for the workers.
[15] On 14 March, a complete withdrawal proposed by TEPCO was rejected by the prime minister,[16][17][18] to continue attempts at bringing the reactors under control during the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.
The workers ate and slept in shifts in a two-story earthquake-resistant building at the center of the complex constructed in July 2010,[2] about "the size of an average living room.
[25] Tokyo Enesys, a TEPCO's subsidiary, adopts 80 mSv to manage the radiation level monitoring with some buffer.
[26] TEPCO decided to move workers around 200mSv to low-radiated site while its subsidiaries, Tokyo Enesys and Kandenko, adopted limits around 100mSv.
Symptoms include nausea and loss of appetite as well as damage to bone marrow, lymph nodes and the spleen.
[36][37] Referring to the original 50 workers, nuclear researcher Dr. Eric Hall opined that they were likely to be older, and unlikely to have further children, so the long-term effects of exposure to high-levels of ionizing radiation would be less likely to appear before a natural death.
[7] A group of 250 skilled senior citizens volunteered to work in the radioactive environment, citing reduced harm to them.
France 24 called them "Japan's faceless heroes",[58] British newspaper, The Guardian wrote: "Other nuclear power employees, as well as the wider population, can only look on in admiration".
[61][62][63] According to Robert Hetkämper, a correspondent for the German television network ARD, the label "Fukushima 50" was invented by a foreign newspaper, and then was imported by the Japanese media.
