“Dad chose to go because of his sense of responsibility toward his job. Now he’s working for everyone.”-worried wife to her daughter

They’re desperate, but determined to support their husbands, working in deadly conditions at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

“My Dad’s great. He’s a hero.”-proud daughter

Many wives know their husbands might suffer deadly contamination working at the damaged nuke plant, but they say their husbands are driven by a sense of commitment to the country.  Their children don’t quite understand the seriousness of the situation; dad is a hero, but how long will he be here after exposure to the deadly radiation?

Some wives say relatives criticize them for not stopping their husbands from working in the deadly plant.  Not only do they have to deal with relatives, but their own husbands will not talk about what is going on at Fukushima Daiichi.

“It’s my job as his wife to believe he’s safe and wait for him to come home after work where he’s risking his life.”

A 61-year-old woman, whose husband manages one of the many subcontractors at Fukushima Daiichi, says it is difficult to get info.  In a recent email her husband said only “I’m alright”, after she asked about radiation exposure.

She said when he finally came home for a break he looked exhausted.

Another wife tries to deal with it by planing the usual things, like enrolling her daughter in school.  She said after a week of working at the damaged nuclear plant, her husband came home looking exhausted, with bloodshot eyes.  He told her he had been exposed to high levels of radiation.  She said their daughter seems to know, she no longer asks for piggy back rides.

From The Daily Yomiuri

Several cities and towns in the Fukushima Prefecture have shown higher levels of contamination that first thought.

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology has been taking radiation readings around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.  Since 26 March the radiation readings went up to dangerous levels, and stayed up.

This was part of the government’s decision to expand the evacuation zone.

The International Commission on Radiological Protection recommends 1,000 microsieverts as the long-term yearly limit to radiation exposure.  In Namie Town, 30km (18.6 miles) northwest of the plant, the Ministry of Science found 14,480 microsieverts of radiation had accumulated over 17-days!  They found many more areas with similar radiation levels.

Hiroshima University Professor Shizuma Kiyoshi, says most of the radiation observed in Fukushima Prefecture is probably radioactive cesium.

Shizuma advises residents to wear masks to avoid inhaling radioactive substances mixed with dust.

Almost as if they intentionally timed their decision with the latest ‘big’ aftershock (two in 4 days now), the Japanese government announced that they will expand the evacuation zone.

The zone will now be 30 kilometers instead of 20km.  The expansion applies only to areas within the 30km (18.6 miles) radius that show high levels of radiation.  People living in areas that have readings that are the equivalent of 20 millisieverts per year, will be asked to leave.  The current yearly exposure standard, to naturally occuring radiation, is 2.4 millisieverts.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Edano Yukio, said they will work with the local governments, and residents will have one month to get out.  Edano also said that people living in the 30km area, but not currently experiencing high levels of radiation, must be prepared to leave at any time.

”…not yet a situation to be optimistic about…”-Nishiyama Hidehiko, Nuclear Safety Agency

The Japanese media reports a magnitude 7.0 quake (US Geological Survey calling 6.6), it’s the second ‘big’ aftershock in the past 4 days.

The latest aftershock halted work on the damaged nuclear plant in Fukushima Prefecture.  TEPCo is not sure how soon they can restart the work.

The two big aftershocks may have caused a new problem at the nuclear plant: ”Now we are in a dilemma because we are seeing water which is pumped in to cool down the reactors showing up as pools of [contaminated] water in other places of the plant.”-Nishiyama Hidehiko, Nuclear Safety Agency

Tokyo Electric Power Company is using remote controlled heavy equipment to remove large radioactive debris from the compound of the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

For areas that radio signals can’t work, they are using heavy equipment that has lead lined cabs on the vehicles.

The debris is so radioactive that it will be sealed in containers, and stored on site as nuclear waste.

For the second time Fukushima Governor Sato Yuhei refused to meet with Tokyo Electric Power Company’s President Shimizu Masataka.

Shimizu went to the governor’s office to apologize for the nuclear disaster that’s contaminating the land. He did the same last month, and just like today, Governor Sato refused to meet Shimizu.

TEPCo President Shimizu is set to make a public appearance, for the first time since 13 March.