在勇敢「福島 700」裡發現的英雄和真實人物

在勇敢「福島 700」裡發現的英雄和真實人物

2011/04/12 朝日新聞

原文出處：http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201104110137.html

雖然外國媒體不斷吹棒有關「福島 50」的報導，但事實上每天投入在這殘破不堪的福島核電一廠裡，與「隱形敵人」抗戰的工人的總數大約有700人。

他們在危險和孤獨裡，跟這場核災奮戰了一個月，但是他們仍然看不到這場災難會何時完結。而大量有關這些無私和勇敢的工人童話故事開始出現。不過，有一些人，卻選擇從比較現實的角度，去思考他們為何必須在這高輻射環境下，冒著自己生命的危險，去為核電廠裡過熱的燃料棒進行降溫的工作。

一名在一間跟東電合作的承包公司裡，當派遣工人的40多歲男人接受我們的訪問。他曾被公司派遣到福島核電一廠去工作。他說：「我不想去那裡工作。但如果我拒絕這個工作，我將會失去工作。」

而他每天只得到少於20,000日元的工資（大約是236美元）。

這個男人說：「我有聽到一些建築工人被僱用的工資，竟然是每小時幾萬日元。但是，我們只能拿到公司跟東電早已協議好的日薪工資。」

與此同時，他公司裡很多男同事都自告奮勇地說要到核電廠裡去工作。他說：「我們是唯一（可以做這些工作）的工人。」這個男人還補充說，正因為大家如此同心協力，更使得他們覺得大家都是團結一致的。

其中一個核電廠的分包商，他們的老闆和年老的主管們，更主動要求到核電廠裡代替年輕的工人工作。因為他們擔心在核電廠裡的工作，會影響他們長遠的健康。

一個年老的主管說：「即使是很簡單的工作，如鋪電纜，我們也願意去做。」

在3月11日東日本大地震後，超過 700名工人立即進入福島核電一廠裡工作。當中包括大量東電的員工和其他合作夥伴公司裡的工人，如東芝公司和日立公司。3月15日，二號反應爐廠房爆炸後，大部分的工人被撤離現場。現場只剩下約 70名的員工繼續進行搶修的工作。

最初，東電公佈只有50名工人在核電廠裡工作。正因如此，國外媒體開始稱他們為「福島 50」，並為他們扣上英雄的光環。

現在，更準確來說，「福島 700」是包括了負責在核電廠裡的「搶修」、「提供輻射檢測資訊」、「醫療」和「保全」部門的工作人員。

當危機在三月中旬發生的時候，許多工人都連續在核電廠的大型會議室裡住了10天。現在，他們是以每次連續休假兩天的方式來輪班工作。

這個月，一名東京都會區裡的東電員工告訴他的妻子說：「我可能需要再去（福島核電一廠 ）工作了。」

地震發生後數天，他便到核電廠裡一直工作。最近，他被允許回家。可是，即便他回到他在東京的辦公室，他每天仍然需要從早上工作到深夜。他只有很少的時間可以和家人講話。

他的妻子關切地問：「即使現時你沒有任何健康的問題，但你將來的健康會跟現在一樣的嗎？」。

在核災發生後，日立公司亦在同一時間，出現了一輪激烈的內部討論。

一名在負責維修福島核電一廠部門的維修工人，向一名工程管理部的工程師挑戰說：「那麼，你可以派多少工人（進核電廠）？趕快把你們的決心拿出來丫。」

為了解決這場災難，維修工人要求工程師跟他們一同分擔在核電廠裡的現場工作，以取代過去工程師都只會在一個安全距離下發放指示的工作模式。因此，許多工程師在討論後便進到核電廠裡工作。

公司裡一名中層主管回憶說：「這的確是一個很難下的決定。」因為這個工作可能會危及工人的生命。

一開始，工人們便發現福島核電一廠裡，缺乏足夠的安全裝備，以及生活環境是非常艱苦的。

核災開始出現時，他們沒有足夠的輻射劑量計來測量廠內的輻射水平。正因如此，約180名工人在沒有攜帶輻射劑量計的情況下進行搶修核電廠的工作。

同時，他們的生活環境非常差。他們的早餐只有很硬的餅乾和蔬菜汁，而晚餐則只能分配到罐頭食品和應急大米。輸班休息時，他們會在地板睡覺休息。

目前，工人們每天可獲供應三餐，有些人可以在遠離核電廠的設施裡居住。根據東電的消息，現時每個工人都已經分配到一個輻射劑量計。

可是，許多工人說他們早已吸收了過量的輻射。

3月下旬，核電廠內作為搶修總部的地方，其輻射水平不斷上升，這個消息令工人非常震驚。

這座建築物配備了防止外來空氣進來的空調系統，而且建築內牆也非常厚。東電為改善室內的空氣，已經為他們更換了全新淨化空氣的裝置。另外，東電也還為這座建築物加裝了77塊鉛板，以防止伽瑪射線透過窗戶而進入該大樓。

一名被派遣到福島核電廠工作的工人補充說：「我們希望公司可以讓派遣工人穿上鉛線縫製的制服（lead-lined suits）。」

在福島核電一廠裡一直都有「全身檢查」的櫃檯，用以測量工人「內部曝曬情況」或在人體內的輻射水平。不過，這些櫃檯由於受到地震和隨後而來的海嘯破壞，現在經已變得形同虛設。這些檢測「內部曝曬情況」的櫃檯，現時只負責檢測車輛。

儘管福島核電一廠有提供一些工作安全的措施，但工人的安全情況仍然須要受到關注。

一名曾處理核電廠工人職災傷害賠償的律師Atsushi Suzuki說：「有些受到輻射污染的工人，他們的症狀可能會潛伏在體內好幾年後才會出現。」

Suzuki曾代表一名在1977年至1982年於福島核電一廠負責修水管和其它工作的受傷工人爭取賠償。

這名工人離開核電廠的工作後，被醫生診斷出他患有一種致命的骨髓癌——多發性骨髓瘤（multiple myeloma）。最後，他在 2007年逝世。

這名工人也被確認是死於輻射曝曬。但在爭取賠償的起訴過中，東電並沒有承認他們需要為此事負責。最終，這名工人的賠償要求也被駁回。

Suzuki說：「我們是非常困難以科學的方法，來證明人們其後出現的症狀是和輻射曝曬有一因果關係。」「我想，現在（在福島核電一廠）的搶修工人，已經無法避免自己免受輻射曝曬的傷害。我覺得政府和東電必須全盤考慮有關工人的防護安全措施，以及（對那些因輻射而患病的工人）進行賠償。」

（本文由 Manabu Sasaki、Hiroyoshi Itabashi、Hiroaki Kojima 和 Ryujiro Komatsu共同撰寫）。

POLLY譯。若有錯漏，請幫忙修訂。

Heroes and realists found among the brave "Fukushima 700"

2011/04/12PrintShare Article         

The second floor in the basement of a waste disposal facility at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant remains flooded with about 30 centimeters of water on Friday. The disposal facility will be used to store highly contaminated water. (Provided by the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency)

Editor's note: We will update our earthquake news as frequently as possible on AJW's Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/AJW.Asahi. Please check the latest developments in this disaster. From Toshio Jo, managing editor, International Division, The Asahi Shimbun.

* * *

Although lionized as the "Fukushima 50" by the foreign media, there are in fact about 700 workers engaged in the daily struggle with the "invisible enemy" at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

A month has passed in the dangerous and lonely efforts to resolve the crisis at the nuclear plant, and still, there is no end in sight. There are many tales emerging of the unselfishness and bravery of these workers, while others take a more realistic view of why they are risking their lives amid high radiation levels to cool down the plant's overheating fuel rods.

A man in his 40s, who was dispatched to Fukushima No. 1 from a partner of the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), said, "I did not want to go there. But if I reject the request, I will lose my job."

The daily pay is less than 20,000 yen ($236).

"I hear some construction workers were employed at a wage of several tens of thousands of yen per hour. But we are working on a conventional daily wage as our company has had cooperative relationships with TEPCO," the man said.

Meanwhile, many of the man's colleagues volunteered to go into the plant, saying, "We are the only workers (that can do the job)." Because of that gung-ho spirit, they share a sense of solidarity, the man added.

At one of the plant's subcontractors, the president and elderly executives volunteered, hoping that they would be chosen instead of younger workers, because they were worried about the long-term health effects on them.

"Even we can do simple work, such as laying cables," one of the elderly executives said.

Immediately after the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake, the number of TEPCO employees and others from the firm's business partners, such as Toshiba Corp. and Hitachi Ltd., at Fukushima No. 1 totaled more than 700. After an explosion took place at a building housing the No. 2 reactor on March 15, however, most of them evacuated. Only about 70 workers remained and continued the recovery work.

Their number was initially announced as 50. Because of that, foreign media labeled them the "Fukushima 50," and the heroic tag stuck.

Today, the more accurate "Fukushima 700" at the plant are classified into such groups as "recovery," "information," "medical service" and "security."

When the crisis began in mid-March, many workers stayed in the plant's compound for more than 10 days in a row. At present, they are working in alternate shifts, taking two days off at a time.

This month, a TEPCO employee living in the Tokyo metropolitan area told his wife, "I may have to go (to the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant) again."

He went to the plant several days after the earthquake and continued to stay there. Recently, he was allowed to return home. Even at his office in Tokyo, however, he is working from early in the morning to midnight every day, and there is little time to talk with family members.

"Even if you have no health problems now, will you be in good health in the future?" his concerned wife asked him.

Meanwhile, heated exchanges took place during a meeting of a group company of Hitachi, immediately after the nuclear crisis began.

An employee of the section in charge of the recovery work at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant challenged an employee in charge of engineering management: "How many workers can you send (to the nuclear plant)? Show us your determination."

To resolve the crisis, the employee urged the latter to share in the on-site work at the nuclear plant instead of issuing orders from a safe distance. As a result of the discussion, many engineers went into the nuclear plant.

A mid-level executive of the company recalled, "It was a difficult decision," as the job could endanger the lives of the workers.

What workers found at Fukushima No. 1 in the beginning was a lack of adequate safety equipment and spartan living conditions.

At the start of the nuclear crisis, there was an insufficient number of dosimeters to measure radiation levels. Because of that, about 180 workers were engaged in the recovery work without them.

Their living conditions were poor. They had only hard biscuits and vegetable juice in the morning and canned food and emergency rice at night. They slept on floors during their shifts.

Currently, the workers have meals three times a day, and some can stay at facilities located away from the plant. According to TEPCO sources, every worker now has access to a dosimeter.

However, many workers say that they may have already been exposed to much radiation.

In late March, the radiation level rose in a building that is serving as the headquarters of the recovery work efforts, alarming the workers.

The building is equipped with an air-conditioning system that does not let in outside air and the walls are also thick. TEPCO has additionally replaced filters for air ventilation with new ones. It also installed 77 lead-covered boards on windows to prevent gamma rays from entering the building,

An employee of a company that has dispatched its workers to the Fukushima plant added, "We want to make the dispatched workers wear lead-lined suits."

The Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant had "whole body counters," which measures "internal exposure," or level of radiation in the human body. However, those counters were rendered useless due to damage from the earthquake and subsequent tsunami. The internal exposure is now measured by inspection vehicles.

Despite the precautions for worker safety at Fukushima No. 1, there is concern.

"Some workers may have radiation-caused symptoms after several years," said Atsushi Suzuki, a lawyer who previously handled a labor disaster compensation issue for a nuclear power plant worker.

Suzuki represented a man who worked at the Fukushima No. 1 plant from 1977 to 1982 as a plumber and on other jobs.

After he left the workplace, he was diagnosed as suffering from multiple myeloma, a deadly bone marrow cancer. He died in 2007.

The man was recognized to have died from exposure to radiation. In a suit seeking compensation, however, TEPCO did not acknowledge its responsibility. As a result, his demand for compensation was rejected.

"It is extremely difficult to prove scientifically the cause-and-effect-relationship between exposure to radiation and a disease that broke out later," Suzuki said. "I think that people currently engaged in recovery work (at the Fukushima No. 1 plant) do not have the leeway to prevent exposure to radiation by themselves. It is necessary for the government and TEPCO to fully consider sufficient prevention measures and compensation (to those who suffered radiation-caused diseases)."

(This article was written by Manabu Sasaki, Hiroyoshi Itabashi, Hiroaki Kojima and Ryujiro Komatsu.)