The Fukushima Fifty

From an article in the UK's Daily Mail:

Five are believed to have already died and 15 are injured while others have said they know the radiation will kill them.

The original 50 brave souls were later joined by 150 colleagues and rotated in teams to limit their exposure to the radiation spewing from over-heating spent fuel rods after a series of explosions at the site. They were today joined by scores more workers.

Japan has rallied behind the workers with relatives telling of heart-breaking messages sent at the height of the crisis.

...

But it is becoming even more pressing that the Fukushima succeed after it was revealed today that Tokyo's tap water has been contaminated by unusual levels of radiation.

The government have issued a warning to all mothers urging them not to let babies drink the tap water.

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Nearly two weeks after the twin March 11 disasters, nuclear officials were still struggling to stabilise the damaged and overheated Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant, which has been leaking radiation since the disasters knocked out the plant's cooling systems.

Radiation has seeped into vegetables, raw milk, the water supply and even seawater in the areas surrounding the plant.

All energy sources carry a risk. Nuclear is no different except that it is a newer technology and consequently it scares a lot of people who fear anything new. The lessons to be learned from this crisis is good and bad. The reactor was hit by an incredible disaster but didn't completely fail and the radiation is still limited compared to the worst case possible. This means that some will die, but not the large numbers in a Chernobyl-size disaster. But the death toll is still small compared to mine disasters. The good news is that more safety can be engineered into these nuclear plants.