Slashdot Mirror
Senior Citizens Lining Up to Tackle Fukushima
Some have compared them to kamikazes, but the more than 200 elderly volunteers who want clean up the Fukushima power station say they are just being practical. 72-year-old retired engineer Yasuteru Yamada says: "I am 72 and on average I probably have 13 to 15 years left to live. Even if I were exposed to radiation, cancer could take 20 or 30 years or longer to develop. Therefore us older ones have less chance of getting cancer." So far the government is hesitant to let the volunteers into the power station but Yamada and the others have been lobbying for the right to aid in the clean up. He says: "At this moment I can say that I am talking with many key government and Tepco people. But I am sorry I can't say any more at this moment. It is on the way but it is a very, very sensitive issue politically."
Not really. Soldiers go to a fight often not of their own making. Nuclear engineers, most of them, have been supporting a deadly industry which will inevitable harm people. It is good that some are willing to step up and take responsibility, but it is much more like cleaning up a mess they have contributed to than the heroism of soldiers. This kind of story http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/03/18/1356216/Heroism-Is-Part-of-a-Nuclear-Workers-Job is all gush.
Coal plant's release radiation? Into what? Coal ash. What a crazy thing to say. Don't you understand fission at all?