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Japan: Fukushima Nuclear Cleanup Worker Dangers Revealed

Categories: East Asia, Japan, Breaking News, Citizen Media, Digital Activism, Disaster, Environment, Human Rights, Labor, Media & Journalism

This post is part of our special coverage Japan Earthquake 2011 [1].

Japan's new online citizen media site 8bit news [2] uploaded a video [3] [ja] on 18 September, 2012, by Tetsuya Hayashi, who unexpectedly found himself working as a cleanup worker at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

He had applied for a job entitled ‘Backup Logistics Support’, but actually found himself on the front line, exposed to high doses of radiation amounting to 1 mSv per minute.

One of the key stories of Japan's 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster was the damage sustained [4] to the coastal power station.

The video [5] [ja – now made private] explains the terrible condition of workers in Fukushima Daiichi (see below for English):

18、19の未成­年も含め、放射線作業の知識や経験もない素人集団が、十分な教育も受けられないまま、経歴を詐称させられ安い賃金で現場に送り込まれる現実に直面した。

Workers as young as 18, 19 years were sent to the site, without adequate training or education. We were told to write resumes with fictitious work experience.

One Twitter user [6] found this exposé so flagrant that she decided to translate the video transcript into English.

あまりにひどいので、英語発信しました。→【実名告発・特ダネ】原発作業員を「嘘の履歴書」で現場に。下請け構造不正の実態 @8bit_HORIJUN さんより

This is too much. I translated into English. →【Real Name/Breaking News】Nuclear Workers Are Sent To Site with False Resume. Truth about multiple subcontractors via @8bit_HORIJUN

The full translation of this video by Yuri Hiranuma can be read here [7].

This post is part of our special coverage Japan Earthquake 2011 [1].