Latest update: 07/10/2011 

- Fukushima - Japan - Japan earthquake - nuclear power


Clearing up Fukushima

No Flash warning
To take advantage of all the features on FRANCE24.COM, please click here to download the latest version of Flash Player.

Fukushima was the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. Who would still want to work at the plant? And yet, thousands of people go there every day to work at cleaning away the radioactive debris and trying to secure the site. France 24 went to meet these workers who are ready to risk their lives to save Japan.

REPORTERS
By Guillaume BRESSION / Makiko Segawa / Marie LINTON

In the small world of Tokyo-based journalists, we knew that it would be difficult to meet the workers of Fukushima. Some could maybe talk to us, but only off-camera. Tepco, the operator of the stricken plant, was the first to disappoint us by refusing each of our requests. And no wonder: Tepco and its subcontractors strictly forbid the workers from speaking to the media.

Luckily, a Japanese woman who ended up becoming our interpreter managed to break the deadlock. A Christian, she worked as a volunteer with victims of the tsunami in Iwaki, a workers’ dormitory town located 40 km south of the Fukushima plant. Through a religious centre, she knew a worker who agreed to meet us. His name is Yukio and he is a colourful personality who wants to set the story straight about the plant’s workers. “Yes, it is hard work. But no, we are not slaves”, is his basic message.

The rest is all about luck…and blagging. We go straight to “J-Village”, the workers’ headquarters, located on the threshold of the 20 km-wide “forbidden zone” around the plant. We are not allowed to be there. Most of the workers know it and only give us a wary hello. But some of them agree to say a few words to us.

EXCLUSIVE - YEMEN: Meeting the fighters of Ansar al-Sharia
19/04/2012 - REPORTERS

EXCLUSIVE - YEMEN: Meeting the fighters of Ansar al-Sharia

In the south of Yemen, the town of Jaar is now under Sharia law. Our reporters travelled undercover to Jaar, which is controlled by the fighters of Ansar al-Sharia ("The Partisans of Sharia"), an al Qaeda affiliate.
France gets seasick
13/04/2012 - REPORTERS

France gets seasick

Despite an outstanding seafaring heritage and the second-largest area of territorial waters in the world, France no longer rules the waves. With fishing quotas, foreign competition and rising fuel costs, can the decline of the French maritime sector - which provides 400,000 jobs - be halted?
France, welcome no more?
06/04/2012 - REPORTERS

France, welcome no more?

Is France still a welcoming country for foreigners? Over the past ten years, it has certainly become more difficult to be a legal immigrant in France. What is the impact of this policy on the daily lives of immigrants? To find out, our reporters went to meet three of them.
A taste of freedom in Gaza
30/03/2012 - REPORTERS

A taste of freedom in Gaza

More than a thousand Palestinian prisoners found freedom when Hamas released a single Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, at the end of 2011. Hundreds of them headed to Gaza, even though many had never lived there before. A few weeks after their return, our reporter found out what became of three of these former prisoners.
EXCLUSIVE: Syria's Al-Qusayr, waiting to fall
23/03/2012 - REPORTERS

EXCLUSIVE: Syria's Al-Qusayr, waiting to fall

Al-Qusayr, in the region of Homs, is a bastion of the Syrian resistance. In order to dodge shells and snipers, the people lie low. With each attack, the wounded flood into secret makeshift clinics. But short of ammunition and outgunned, the soldiers of the Free Syrian Army do not know how much longer they can hold out. France 24's reporters take you inside Al-Qusayr to meet the struggling resistance.
(4) comments

React to the article
Comment this article typing your message in the above text zone. Please note that this is limited to 1500 characters or less.
(2) Reactions

SUBCONTRACTORS ? STOP IT...

by Anonyme - 10/10/2011 - 19:21

...Because NO RIGHTS to SUBCONTRACTORS in SAME COMPANY...WHY ?

From a Japanese point of view...

by Anonyme - 10/10/2011 - 01:46

The problem is that their treatment is regarded as a violation of human rights. For example, their wage are skimmed to about only 10% at the minimum by too many layers of intermediators. In exchange of an additional benefit of one thousand yen per hour, they have to give up claims for any ill-health condition that can be expected in the future.

Generally, the management of the Japanese government is too emphasized on protection of industries and it threats people's right to live.

The maximum dose of 500 becquerels for rice is too loose to protect human health. So some local agricultural cooperatives are trying to stop shipment of those from which a significant radiation level is detected. Their attempt is under disturbance by the agricultural ministry which demands that all grain whose radiation level is below the limit must be shipped.

Some of contaminated debris are processed to concrete and a government body demands constructors to use it. Some radiated sludge are guided by another to be moved onto farmlands as a fertilizer.

Read more
Close