From Japan, Bearing Witness in Debate Over Indian Point
[link to www.nytimes.com]

[snip]

His job[Kitajima]is to read radiation meters worn by the 3,000 people trying to clean up its lethally contaminated remnants. The most dangerous work is done at night, he said, after the main shifts are gone. A crew of 20 men is sent to pick up the irradiated rubble. Practically none of the men have families, much education or regular employment. They have no experience working in nuclear power plants. He compared them to day laborers in America. Within a few months, they accumulate what is regarded as the maximum safe dosage of radiation for four years, Mr. Kitajima said.

“Then they bring in new ones,” he said. “Everybody kind of admits to themselves that these are expendable people.”

Mr. Kitajima, who had left the cafe for work at the plant, said he was once part of a political movement that opposed construction of nuclear plants, but had dropped out. “The risk of working there is what I’ve done to atone for my lack of involvement,” he said. “We are trying to scoop the ocean with a cup.”