Atomic Samurai

It’s been about a month since the devastating triple disaster hit Japan, making one wonder what kind of bad karma is being laid upon Nippon.

We’ve all been incredulous at the massive destruction wrought by the earthquake and the resulting tsunami. But then came disaster No. 3-the nuclear catastrophe at the Fukushima nuclear power plant near Tokyo’s 15-million-plus population.

For weeks, workers at the plant have been exposing themselves to levels of radiation from the plant’s leaking reactors that are thousands of times higher than what is considered safe, as they desperately try to keep the plant from having a full nuclear meltdown.

Such an explosive meltdown could send huge amounts of deadly radiation out over the city and the countryside and turn the region into a toxic zone virtually unfit for human habitation. Already, produce, milk and fish are showing signs of radiation contamination.

The workers, known as the “Fukushima 50,” are actually about 300 plant workers who have been toiling in shifts to try to bring the disaster back under human control. They have become heroes in Japan and are known as atomic samurai, a nod to Japan’s historic warrior culture.

One woman, whose 32-year-old son is one of the Fukushima 50, said the workers know they are probably doomed but won’t quit as they try to save the lives and health of untold numbers of their fellow countrymen.

“My son and his colleagues have discussed it at length and they have committed themselves to die if necessary to save the nation,” the woman tearfully told Fox News. “He told me they have accepted they will all probably die from radiation sickness in the short-term or cancer in the long-term.”

The workers said they expect to die within weeks or months after being exposed to massive amounts of radiation.

It boggles the mind to hear of such selfless heroics.

The latest attempt to stem the damage that ultimately could result from the overheated reactors is to entomb them in cement, and some of the world’s largest cement pumps are being delivered to Japan from the U.S.

That’s what eventually brought the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine under control back in 1986 after that Soviet nuclear power plant experienced a meltdown, but not before a huge radioactive cloud was released across Europe.

Until the ongoing Japanese disaster can be reined in, those Fukushima workers are the front line of defense for the city of Tokyo and the nation of Japan. What a heavy burden to be placed on their shoulders, but a true expression of Japanese culture that places the good of the many above the individual.

Would we Americans be as self-sacrificing if it were our disaster and the lives of our fellow citizens at stake? I’d like to hope so.

We may get a chance to find out someday, as several of our nation’s 104 nuclear power facilities are located either on the coast or only a short distance inland — and also near earthquake zones.

One thing’s certain: We can now add Fukushima to the list of Three Mile Island and Chernobyl as names of disasters we should never forget.

And the nameless heroes who are trading their lives to save the lives of others.

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