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| Volunteering in Japan | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jun 1 2011, 05:13 PM (83 Views) | |
| George K | Jun 1 2011, 05:13 PM Post #1 |
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Finally
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http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2011-05/japanese-pensioners-lobby-take-over-fukushima-nuclear-cleanup Japanese Elderly Offer to Take Over Fukushima Nuclear Cleanup Older men argue they have less chance of developing radiation-induced cancer in their lifetimes Let the young rebuild Japan, says Yasuteru Yamada, but let the old clean up the most difficult mess leftover from March’s devastating earthquake and tsunamis. The 72-year-old former engineer is recruiting other retirees to replace the younger workers currently braving radiation exposure at Japan’s damaged Fukushima nuclear power complex. It’s not a question of bravery or experience, he says, but one of biological logic. Yamada tells the BBC: "I am 72 and on average I probably have 13 to 15 years left to live," he says. "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." Yamada isn’t alone in his desire to help clean up the mess in Fukushima prefecture. He’s enlisted 200 of his fellows--many of them engineers by trade, but also cooks, singers, school teachers, and even former power station workers--who have also expressed a willingness to trade in their retirements for the long road to stabilizing the power plant. And that road is long. Currently the plant’s operator, TEPCO, believes that at least three of the reactors underwent meltdowns in the weeks following the ‘quakes. The official timetable now calls for bringing the plant to a cold shutdown by January, but some say that schedule is likely too aggressive. Already the allowable dose of radiation for each worker has been raised just so authorities can keep workers on the site. |
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A guide to GKSR: Click "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08 Nothing is as effective as homeopathy. I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles. - Klaus, 4/29/18 | |
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| jon-nyc | Jun 1 2011, 05:18 PM Post #2 |
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Cheers
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Hats off to them. |
| In my defense, I was left unsupervised. | |
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| George K | Jun 1 2011, 05:34 PM Post #3 |
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Finally
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Years ago, when dinosaurs walked the earth, and I worked at the university, we had a patient come to the OR who needed his prostate done. He had two major problems: a) He was too sick to be put to sleep, and b) He had Jakob-Kreutzfeld disease (the human equivalent of mad cow). JK is a horrible disease that causes severe dementia and is rapidly fatal. However, it doesn't manifest itself for about 25 years after infection and exposure. It's contracted by contact with brain tissue of someone who's infected or by contact with spinal fluid of the infected patient. This guy needed a spinal anesthetic, which involves sticking a needle in his back, getting spinal fluid and injecting local anesthetic. No one wanted to go near the guy, for obvious reasons. Fortunately, that day, the Dean of the medical school was working in the OR. He was an anesthesiologist and founded the department before he became Dean. He volunteered to do this guy's anesthetic. "Hell, I'm 70 years old. I should be so lucky as to get JK disease at the age of 95!"
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A guide to GKSR: Click "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08 Nothing is as effective as homeopathy. I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles. - Klaus, 4/29/18 | |
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11:25 AM Jul 11