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TEPCO: 6 workers contaminated by Fukushima water leak

30 Comments
By Mari Yamaguchi

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30 Comments
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First it was the wrong button. Now it's the wrong pipe. Geez, what's next?!

I guess that's what happens when undertrained folks are going there trying to fix things that no one knows how to fix in the first place!

0 ( +1 / -1 )

maybe they can setup a scoreboard and some stands

0 ( +0 / -0 )

@Spudman,

Pay peanuts and you get homeless monkeys. Shame on TEPCO for exploiting an underclass and lining the YAKUZA's pockets, business as usual in Japan.

Hmm. I must have missed the part of the article where it said the affected workers were "underclass", "homeless monkeys". Or is that just your way of desperately trying to believe middle-class human workers with homes would have never made this mistake? If so, boy are you in for a rude awakening!

0 ( +1 / -1 )

I doubt those poor guys can even read a plumbing schematic. What a nightmare. And yeah, I wouldn't put it past the yaks to engage in a little sabotage to make sure they can skim off even more money.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

in other news the company was renamed INEPTCO in keeping with operations capabilities and performance indicators

1 ( +1 / -0 )

chucky3176

At least they're not hiring foreign workers from poor Asian countries. Or are they?

As the decommissioning will take decades, japan will have no choice at a certain point in time to import nuke meat. This is mathematics.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

@kurisupisu With all due respect, I would say that it has been for some time and continues to be not "difficult", but impossible to accept Tepco's assurances of safety.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

To be doused with highly radioactive water must be an extremely dangerous incident. Hasn't this water been in contact with unshielded nuclear fuel? It is difficult to continually accept Tepco's assurances that there are not any health hazards whilst this work is being carried out.......

1 ( +2 / -1 )

. where did you read that they are employing homeless people for the work at Fukushima?

http://www.worldcrunch.com/culture-society/how-the-japanese-mafia-is-making-millions-from-the-fukushima-cleanup/japan-corruption-yakuza-mob-nuclear/c3s10837/#.UlVG7CRgeHk

odd that NHK hasn't investigated it yet, oh no it isn't they are owned by the same people who own TEPCO.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

tmarie, that's absolutely shocking. But it could have been worse. At least they're not hiring foreign workers from poor Asian countries. Or are they?

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Thunderbird2, it is a rather poorly kept secret that many of the workers at Fukushima Daiichi are day labours, who are often classified as homeless, taken from cities like Osaka and Tokyo who have been promised large salaries only to be screwed around and charged shockingly high rates for room and board, not to mention have shocking care when it comes to their health and safety.

http://theweek.com/article/index/217202/fukushimas-nuclear-gypsies

http://www.indypendent.org/2012/04/02/japans-untouchable-workers

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201305060062

9 ( +10 / -1 )

No one up there has any idea what they are doing and stories of muck ups are becoming a daily occurrence, this whole saga is like something out of a B grade movie.

The continuing Tepco Fukushima fiasco is just a continuing comedy of errors.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

FFS. tepco - time to quit.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Pay peanuts and you get homeless monkeys. Shame on TEPCO for exploiting an underclass and lining the YAKUZA's pockets, business as usual in Japan.

Spudman... where did you read that they are employing homeless people for the work at Fukushima?

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Wow, and next year, they want to start farming and grow rice in Fukushima, well, now I feel so much better to know they have it it all under control. Heaven help us all.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

And where are the TEPCO bosses who should be overseeing these workers? Probably out to lunch ... down in Tokyo somewhere.

The situation up there at the destroyed nuclear power plant seems to be betting worser and worser every day.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

when you consider that 400 tons of new radioactive water is created each day and they can't make tanks fast enough to contain it and those tanks are temporary any way they can get rid of water is......accidental? Who really believes the numbers TEPCO is publishing?

6 ( +6 / -0 )

This article is written in a disjointed and confusing way. (Paragraph 4 cuts the flow and should be moved back at least three paras.)

According to my understanding of other press sources, what it is trying to say is that the machine was desalinating the water following removal of cesium, but that last time they checked, it still contained 37,000,000 becquerels per liter of radioactive material such as strontium. The pipe remained disconnected for 50 minutes and seven tons leaked out, some of it onto six workers.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Nobody worry! According to Abe, it's under control!

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Indeed Spud. Pay for Homer Simpson, get Homer Simpson.

So we've had cooling pumps turned off, tanks filled too much, important pipes removed... All to save TEPCO some yen? This is insane and totally irresponsible. While I feel sorry for these workers and no disrespect is intended, do we really want men who were unable to find regular employment, many due to lower levels of education, cleaning up this mess because that is what we have at the moment. Pathetic. It really is "Dumb and Dumber" with this mess.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Cue Simpsons theme! - Enough already!!!!

0 ( +1 / -1 )

The water did not come into contact with their faces so there is a little possibility that the workers ingested any of the water,” a TEPCO spokesperson said.

Is that a deliberate mistake by the press office?

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Time to send the Marines in.

If you really are Tomodachi's, now is the time to get in and pitch.

3 ( +7 / -4 )

Japan Today needs to add a "Tepco Screw-Ups" section to their news categories..

18 ( +18 / -0 )

And only the second human error since the weekend! You gotta wonder if TEPCO itself is getting tired of being constantly embarrassed.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

That's two human errors in 2 days, sounds like to me the yakuza bosses are demanding more money and instructing their workers to make Tepco have even more problems.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Tepco, a new day, a new mess up!

9 ( +9 / -0 )

Pay peanuts and you get homeless monkeys. Shame on TEPCO for exploiting an underclass and lining the YAKUZA's pockets, business as usual in Japan.

20 ( +20 / -0 )

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