Fears for safety at Fukushima one year on
Iwaki. To some of the men who earn as little as $100 a day to work inside Japan's Fukushima Daiichi, the plant at the centre of a year-old nuclear disaster is far from safe - despite the official line, AFP reports.
Operator Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) and the Japanese government say the tsunami-crippled reactors are all in a "state of cold shutdown" and are keen to give the impression that there is just cleaning up to do.
They acknowledge it is the work of a few decades - perhaps 40 years - but nonetheless insist things are under control.
But that is not how those who spend their days inside the plant see it.
"I can clearly say it's not safe at all," said one worker in his 50s, a subcontractor who has been working on the plant's cooling system since September.
The man did not want to be identified for fear of losing the 8,000 yen ($100) daily paycheck he receives.
"There are many spots where radiation levels are extremely high," he told AFP.
The man said subcontractors like him were treated like animals.
Text and photo: http://www.focus-fen.net
(01.03.2012)