人間を「使い捨て」にする原発へ志願、ベテラン技師たちのありがたさ
2011年6月28日（火）18:00
http://news.goo.ne.jp/article/newsengw/nation/newsengw-20110628-01.html?pageIndex=1
(略)
そうした中で今月27日、同じ『ニューヨーク・タイムズ』が「若い奴にはやらせない」と立ち上がったベテラン技術者たちのことを「高齢者たち、打撃受けた原子炉で支援申し出る」という記事で、詳しく報じていました。元住友金属工業の技術者、山田恭暉氏（72歳）たちが始めた「福島原発暴発阻止行動プロジェクト」のことです。プロジェクトの英語名は「Skilled Veterans Corps （有能なベテラン部隊、技術のあるベテラン部隊）」。上手につけた英語名だな、と思います。「Veteran」という英単語には和製英語の「ベテラン」がもつ「長年の経験を持つ人、熟練者」という意味だけでなく、「歴戦の強者」というニュアンスもあるからです。戦争からの帰還兵も「Veteran」です。つまり英語圏では、尊敬の念を呼び起こす（はずの）単語なのです。
山田氏たちの活動を私が最初に知ったのは、4月下旬にTwitterで回ってきたこの週刊金曜日の記事。プロジェクトのホームページで報告されているように、すでに内外の色々な媒体で紹介されています。『ニューヨーク・タイムズ』の記事も（プロジェクトホームページにあるように）、「身体の面でも生活の面でも最も放射能被曝の害が少なくて済み、しかもこれまで現場での作業や技術の能力を蓄積してきた退役者たちが力を振り絞って、次の世代に負の遺産を残さないために働くことができるのではないでしょうか」という山田さんたちの呼びかけに、すでに約400人が応募し、430万円以上のカンパが集まり、ホームページが日本語以外にも12ヶ国語に翻訳されていることを紹介しています。
その上で記事は、山田氏の呼びかけは当初の目的よりも広範な議論を引き起こすきっかけとなったと書きます。日本社会における高齢者の役割について。ボランティアの意味について。福島第一での作業者を東電が確保し続けるのは難しいだろうという現実について。
(略)Elders Offer Help at Japan’s Crippled Reactor
By KEN BELSON
Published: June 27, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/28/world/asia/28fukushima.html?_r=1
TOKYO — By any measure, the thousands of people toiling to cool the crippled nuclear reactors in Fukushima are engaged in jobs that the Japanese consider kitanai, kitsui and kiken, or dirty, difficult and dangerous.
Seemingly against logic, Yasuteru Yamada, 72, is eager for the chance to take part. After seeing hundreds of younger men on television struggle to control the damage at the Daiichi power plant, Mr. Yamada struck on an idea: Recruit other older engineers and other specialists to help tame the rogue reactors.Not only do they have some of the skills needed, but because of their advanced age, they are at less risk of getting cancer and other diseases that develop slowly as a result of exposure to high levels of radiation. Their volunteering would spare younger Japanese from dangers that could leave them childless, or worse.
“We have to contain this accident, and for that, someone should do the work,” said Mr. Yamada, a retired plant engineer who had worked for Sumitomo Metal Industries. “It would benefit society if the older generation took the job because we will get less damage from working there.”
Weeks after the devastating earthquake and tsunami struck, he and Nobuhiro Shiotani, a childhood friend who is also an engineer, formed the Skilled Veterans Corps in early April. They sent out thousands of e-mails and letters, and even set up a Twitter account. On his blog, bouhatsusoshi.jp/english, Mr. Yamada called on people over age 60 who have “the physical strength and experience to bear the burden of this front-line work.”
The response was instant. About 400 people have volunteered, including a singer, a cook and an 82-year-old man. Some 1,200 others have offered support, while donations have topped 4.3 million yen, or $54,000. His blog has been translated into 12 languages.
Although Mr. Yamada, a soft-spoken cancer survivor, started with a simple goal, he has triggered a much wider debate about the role of the elderly in Japan, the meaning of volunteerism and the growing reality that the Tokyo Electric Power Company, which owns the reactors, will face an increasingly difficult time recruiting workers. Some experts expect that Japan will ultimately import laborers to help with the cleanup. More than 3,000 workers, many of them poorly paid part-timers, are at the Daiichi site. Already, several have suffered heat stroke and nine have absorbed more than their legal limit of radiation. Dozens of workers have stopped showing up.
Mr. Yamada and his group have been described as selfless patriots surrendering for the greater good, mindless kooks willing to throw themselves in harm’s way, or pensioners with too much leisure time. The descriptions miss the point, according to Mr. Shiotani, who had a more practical idea in mind.
“Nuclear power plants are the brainchild of scientists and engineers,” he said. “They created this mess, and they have to fix it.”
In conditions this dangerous, wanting to help and being allowed to help are different things. Some lawmakers initially scoffed at the volunteers, including Goshi Hosono, an aide to Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who told reporters last month that the work in Fukushima did not yet require a “suicide corps.”
“It is very precious that they sacrifice their lives and volunteer to resolve this situation,” Mr. Hosono later explained. But “they are at a certain age, so we don’t want them to get sick after working in such a dangerous environment with full face masks.”
But in a country starved for feel-good stories, the Skilled Veterans Corps has captured the hearts of many. Requests for interviews have poured in from around the world. Politicians have slowly come on board. On June 6, Mr. Yamada met Banri Kaieda, the minister of economy, trade and industry, who promised to help the volunteers before their “enthusiasm burns out.”
“I thought, what a brave idea when so many Japanese and non-Japanese are afraid to go to Fukushima,” said Hiroe Makiyama, a Parliament member in Mr. Kan’s Democratic Party of Japan who is helping promote the project. “No one intends to die there. They don’t really want to do this, but they feel they have to do this.”
Mr. Yamada got so busy working from home that he found some office space in a narrow walk-up in Tokyo’s Shimbashi neighborhood. In a spartan room with a couple of computers, a hot water pot and a few folding chairs, Mr. Yamada and his team are applying to become a nonprofit group and awaiting approval of their application to visit the Daiichi plant in July.
Mr. Yamada and Mr. Shiotani say the hardest part of their jobs may be dealing with officials at Tokyo Electric Power, or Tepco, as it is known. As engineers, they understand that their counterparts, who undoubtedly are very busy, likely will have bruised egos, given the scale of the damage and the tumbling status of the company.
But unlike high-paid consultants and vendors, the Skilled Veterans Corps has nothing to sell but ideas and hard work. As volunteers, they do not have a conflict of interest and can speak openly, they say. Still, Mr. Yamada and Mr. Shiotani recognize that they must be humble. Yoshimi Hitotsugi, a spokesman for Tepco, said that the company is “highly appreciative” of the offers of help, but that it is still deciding what the volunteers are capable of doing and how to ensure their safety.
Mr. Yamada, an avid bicyclist, said he did not expect to start working at the Daiichii plant until autumn because of the intense heat and humidity during the summer. Ever the engineer, he said that no one, not even older workers, should do anything hastily.
“We won’t take any reckless or meaningless action,” he said. “We won’t do fruitless work.”
Yasuko Kamiizumi contributed reporting.
Japan pensioners volunteer to tackle nuclear crisis
31 May 2011 Last updated at 07:19 GMT
By Roland Buerk
BBC News, Tokyo
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13598607
A group of more than 200 Japanese pensioners are volunteering to tackle the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima power station.
The Skilled Veterans Corps, as they call themselves, is made up of retired engineers and other professionals, all over the age of 60.They say they should be facing the dangers of radiation, not the young.
It was while watching the television news that Yasuteru Yamada decided it was time for his generation to stand up.
No longer could he be just an observer of the struggle to stabilise the Fukushima nuclear plant.
The retired engineer is rElders Offer Help at Japan’s Crippled Reactor
eporting back for duty at the age of 72, and he is organising a team of pensioners to go with him.
For weeks now Mr Yamada has been getting back in touch with old friends, sending out e-mails and even messages on Twitter.
Volunteering to take the place of younger workers at the power station is not brave, Mr Yamada says, but logical.
Mr Yamada has been getting back in touch with old friends via e-mail and even messages on Twitter "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."
Mr Yamada is lobbying the government hard for his volunteers to be allowed into the power station. The government has expressed gratitude for the offer but is cautious.Certainly a couple of MPs are supporting Mr Yamada.
"At this moment I can say that I am talking with many key government and Tepco people. But I am sorry I can't say any more at this moment. It is on the way but it is a very, very sensitive issue politically," he said.
Certainly it is likely more workers will be needed.
The plant is still spewing radiation, nearly three months after an earthquake and tsunami knocked out its cooling systems, triggering explosions.Its operator, Tepco, has now confirmed three of the reactors probably suffered meltdowns.
The plan is to bring the plant to a cold shutdown by January, although some experts believe that is over optimistic.
To cope with the disaster Japan has raised the radiation exposure limit for emergency workers from 100 millisieverts to 250 millisieverts.
But Tepco announced this week two workers at Fukushima might have already been exposed to more.
Kamikaze?
Many of Mr Yamada's veterans are retired engineers like him.
Others are former power station workers, experts in factory design - and even a singer and two cooks - Mr Yamada says they will be useful to keep his team amused and fed.Michio Ito used to be a primary school teacher but is spending his retirement helping out in a cafe that offers work experience to people with learning difficulties.
He is keen to swap his apron for a radiation suit.
"I don't think I'm particularly special," he says. "Most Japanese have this feeling in their heart. The question is whether you step forward, or you stay behind and watch.
"To take that step you need a lot of guts, but I hope it will be a great experience. Most Japanese want to help out any way they can."
Mr Yamada has already tried on his old overalls for size.
He says he is as fit as ever - with a lifetime of experience to bring to the task.
And he laughs off suggestions his proposed team is comparable to the kamikaze pilots who flew suicide missions in World War II.
"We are not kamikaze. The kamikaze were something strange, no risk management there. They were going to die. But we are going to come back. We have to work but never die."
