Japanese Nuclear Engineers Look Fear in the Face

Voice of America reports on a second blast today in Japan:

Tokyo Electric Power company, which operates the plant, said an undetermined number of workers had been injured in the blast.

(VOA)

I would imagine that workers at a power plant don't normally expect anything to go very wrong. They are smart, well educated, conscientious. They didn't likely fall into this occupation as a last resort, like a few of those in the military. In contrast with the military, there is no backdrop of  likely death. People may enter the military at a time when the nation is at war, and that risk is always a factor in the decision. Some will join because we are at war, and some will join precisely when we are not, and always risking the odds of death. Same with firemen and police, who measure the risk, but take the jobs due to altruism, patriotism, love of the work or family history.

Working at a plant is different, since the risks are rather unlikely, and out of the blue. In Japan, it was an earthquake and tsunami triggering damage. Now the pressure is building in reactors and workers have to be on hand to manage the situation.

What if you had to rise this morning, knowing that you had to go into a potentially radioactive environment? Life--YOURS-- might be cut short. It's your job, but, it's not mandatory. You won't be court-martialed if you leave, necessarily. Does that nuclear engineer or site specialist in Japan decide, on this particular morning, of all the mornings in the world, to pursue his inner muse, skip work, and take up another career out of cowardice or self preservation? Does the father of a young child want to make sure he sees his son play baseball as a teen?

There is now the potential of dying for energy, or dying to protect everyone else from contamination. Your life could be cut short on the tail end, with the resulting sickness slow and deadly, or you could go right up front in one stark blast of light.

Right now there is little talk of alarm. There is probably an entirely stronger discourse going on behind the closed doors of officials, and in the mind of that individual worker who sits there wondering if this day at work will be uniquely life changing in bad way. That is fear. I can feel that fear from the comfort of my home many miles away in the Arizona desert, and where Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station--the largest nuclear site in the U.S.-- sits 45 miles away from me.

I wake up this morning knowing that I can skip work, and quit, and it won't be a big deal. Nobody will die because of my fear, or suffer because of my inaction. I will sit ans eat a piece of Toblerone, and fill in a spreadsheet, while others lay their lives on the line.