Atomic Insights

Atomic energy technology, politics, and perceptions from a nuclear energy insider who served as a US nuclear submarine engineer officer

I want to join the Okuma Town Senior Brigade

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An Atomic Insights reader (thanks Pete51) sent me a link to an amazing documentary that ran at the beginning of May on NHK, a Japanese network that is available now on some US cable systems.

It tells the story of six retirees who now work daily to protect and preserve Okuma Town, which is the area immediately outside of the gates of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station.

I am inspired and want to join these people – at least for a little while. The exercise in an area of low level radiation would do me good and I would love to learn at least some Japanese. Not only do I intend to engage in some useful manual labor, but I would like to help prove to people that areas contaminated with radiation, even at levels as high as 30 microsieverts per hour (in isolated places), should not be abandoned and can be made livable without requiring any life-altering precautions.

There is a lot of work that needs to be done; the radiation levels are not high enough to be a major concern, especially for someone in the second half of life already.

The only dangerous part of this endeavor will be relearning how to use a chain saw. There was a time when I was reasonably skilled with that tool; I ran a little business cutting down palm trees that had died from lethal yellowing when I was a teenager in South Florida and I also had the opportunity to recover those skills following Hurricane Hugo.

However, it’s been a while. The last time a tree fell in my yard, I had to get help from a Marine buddy because I no longer owned a chain saw. Now that I think about it, that Marine buddy has a Japanese wife. Hmnmm. Maybe there is a plan hatching here…

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. You’d easily pick up conversational Japanese, Mr Adams – it’s arguably the most systematic language in the world.

    I left a part of me in Japan the first time i visited. I’d join you there if not for family and work. I’m not afraid of 30 uSv/hr, and I have you at least in part to thank for that.

    • Japanese can be quite difficult to master. Not only has it different verbs depending on the level of respect between the speaker and the listener, but the dialects of Tohoku have a reputation of being incomprehensible to normal Japanese – speakers of such dialects are often subtitled on Japanese TV.

    • @Martin Burkle

      I have added you to the mailing list I’m starting to keep people up to date on arrangements. Maybe we’ll have a large contingent of helping hands.

      • You can add me to the list also Rod, if my Japanese could be of some help here, that would just be great.

  3. Hey, if this is for real, go ahead and put this 50 year old on your mailing list!

  4. Is there any way for atomicinsights or any nuclear blog to contact this group for moral support and social and technical feedback? They’d also be an excellent human interest asset in the fight against FUD and nuclear slander.

    James Greenidge
    Queens NY

  5. I notice how at least early on that NHK doesn’t mention the quake or that the accident was caused by it. All I hear is “the disaster” minus the cause, like all nukes are accidents waiting to spontaneously happen. I hope Rod makes it to Japan and straightens out NHK of how “dangerous” the rad levels really are and the real political reason no one lives there! Oh, NHK rejects comments like this!

  6. Gather some inertia, Rod. I’m bettin’ you’re running full tilt towards a mountain of red tape. I wish you the best.

    It’ll be interesting to see if the swarm of jackass bureaucrats you’ll have to do battle with will eventually fold.