Tokyo Shimbun reports on a 27 year old plant worker who received a call to come to the Fukushima Daiichi plant and work, but turned it down for the sake of his 26 year old wife and 3 year old son. The man said that many workers over the age of 50 were returning to the site to work.
Another 41 year old worker said he would be returning to work in April.
One other worker they spoke to said that he would probably return to the plant for fear that if he refused he would not be welcome back to his job later. He said that he felt the offer made was at least halfway a command.
Another worker said that phone calls had been going around looking specifically for older workers willing to return to the damaged plants. They mentioned that the daily pay would be far above the norm.
I’m not sure what it means if the $4,000 a day pay is true. It is a very dangerous job, but that’s sounds like a lot of money for Tokyo Electric to pay out. If it is true, how will they get the money? Will anyone be held accountable for any of the violations in that have been shown to predate the earthquake and tsunami (for example the improper disposal of spent rods and stories that report that the plants used more rods than recommended and that the plants themselves were used for a decade longer than they should have)?
I wish the workers in there the best. I’d be lying if I said 400,000 yen a day weren’t tempting, but I wonder if they’d take me.
Also, it could also be a shady strategy for Tokyo Electric to be looking for mostly older workers. There could be less accountability for related health problems later, and it also kind of shows how dangerous they think it could be (on the inside). Is sterility a danger for workers in there now? Even though reports say that areas distant from the plants are not unsafe, I haven’t heard anything about radiation levels close to or inside the plants themselves.
Some photos have also shown workers with insufficient gear, but we don’t know if they were managerial types or actually walking around in the damaged areas with trash bags taped over their shoes.