David McNeill meets a nuclear worker who sees it as his duty to save the stricken plant – even if it means an early grave
Atsushi Watanabe (not his real name) is an ordinary Japanese man in his 20s, about average height and solidly built, with the slightly bemused expression of the natural sceptic. Among the crowds in Tokyo, in his casual all-black clothes, he could be an off-duty postman or a construction worker. But he does one of the more extraordinary jobs on the planet: helping to shut down the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
That job, in a complex that experienced the first triple-reactor meltdown after Japan’s 11 March earthquake and tsunami, means he will never marry or raise a family for fear of health problems down the line, and may not even live to see old age. But he accepts that price. “There are only some of us who can do this job,” he says. “I’m single and young and I feel it’s my duty to help settle this problem.
Continue reading at A young man sacrificing his future to shut down Fukushima
