Japanese Pensioners Volunteer To Risk Lives At Fukushima

03:56

June 01, 2011

Yasuteru Yamada, 72, is a retired Japanese engineer, who is organizing a group of pensioners like himself to work at the disabled Fukushima nuclear power plant, in an effort to spare younger workers from the dangers of radiation exposure. (BBC)

A group of more than 200 Japanese pensioners are volunteering to tackle the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima power station. The "skilled veterans corps," as they call themselves, is made up of retired engineers and other professionals, all over the age of sixty.

As the BBC's Roland Buerk reports, the pensioners say they should be facing the dangers of radiation, instead of the young.

Here & Now: Anti-nuclear Activist In Japan Wonders:"Could We Have Done More"

This segment aired on June 1, 2011.