Imagine... you are an expert in your field, a job few can perform... and one day, this expertise could be used to save millions.. would you do it?

Now, imagine... that this is a suicide mission... not a risk like the labs working with SARS, with a chance of contamination... but a task that would result in certain death... and even so... chances of success are slim to none...

Would you still do it?

Well, that is the fate of the Fukushima Fifty.

In the midst of the reactor meltdown... where anyone within 20 miles of the nuclear plant was asked to evacuate... 50 unnamed operators voluntarily chose to stay behind to salvage the situation.... this number has since risen to 150-180...

and things are not turning out well.

5 workers have died since the quake and 22 more have been injured for various reasons, while 2 are missing. 1 worker was hospitalized after suddenly grasping his chest and finding himself unable to stand, and another needed treatment after receiving a blast of radiation near a damaged reactor. 11 workers were injured in a hydrogen explosion at reactor No. 3.
And now 3 men were scorched when knee-deep water sloshed down their boots and the contamination is believed to have come from one of the plant's six reactors - reactor 3 - which is thought to have been cracked.

An exposure of 100 milli-sieverts per year is considered the lowest level at which any increase in cancer risk is evident... these men were exposed to radiation between 170 to 180 milli-sieverts... and according to TEPCO, a total of 14 workers have been exposed to at least 100 milli-sieverts since the March 11 quake...
and to put it in perspective.. here are the doses you get for medical procedures..
and you feel like crap after that brief exposure... well.. now imagine prolonging that exposure =S

and I guess what really brings the situation home.. are the text messages sent out by these anonymous workers to their loved ones...

To his wife, “Please continue to live well, I cannot be home for a while.”


in movies, heroes are epic beings completing the impossible...
in reality, heroes are often the most ordinary of men...

... who find the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.

Indeed, the Samurai Spirit lives on in Japan. Death before Dishonour.