More volunteers "prepared for death" at Fukushima

OSAKA - In the scramble to avert catastrophe at the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant, selfless workers are volunteering to repeatedly endure high doses of radiation for the sake of millions of people.

Even if the engineers succeed in restoring power to the plant, crippled by a giant earthquake and tsunami, they have risked permanent health damage. On Friday, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said the workers were "prepared for death".

But they have nevertheless raised their hands to return into a hellish, toxic environment to hook up power cables, inspect machinery and identify where firefighters should aim powerful hoses to cool reactors.

"I will work until the limit," one technician in his 30s told his employer, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co., an official revealed in a press conference late Sunday.

Another engineer, who works for a TEPCO subsidiary, told the Mainichi daily on Monday: "There might be another explosion, or the radiation level may rise. Of course I have the option of refusing -- my family is telling me to do so. It's an extremely hard decision, and I'm sure everyone is thinking that way."

"I am worried of course. We are working in an area exposed to this much high radiation and we're still unsure of what will happen.

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