Japan's Fukushima 50: Heroes Who Volunteered to Stay Behind at Japan's Crippled Nuclear Plants

March 16, 2011 — -- They are the nameless brave men who are working as the last line of defense at Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plants. They stayed behind while everyone else was sent nearly 15 miles away and radiation soars to menacing levels.

There are 200 of them and they work in shifts of 50, earning the inaccurate nickname the Fukushima 50.

At one point, even these men were pulled back 500 yards from the deteriorating nuke plants, but this morning it appears the crisis team was heading back in.

A 27-year-old woman whose Twitter name is @NamicoAoto tweeted earlier this week that her father had volunteered for Fukushima duty.

A day later she tweeted, "I heard that he volunteered even though he will be retiring in just half a year and I my eyes are filling up with tears.... At home, he doesn't seem like someone who could handle big jobs...but today, I was really proud of him. And I pray for his safe return."

An admirer of the Fukushima crew tweeted, "Whatever's the closest int'l equivalent to the Medal of Honor - Nobel Peace Prize? -- The Fukushima 50 deserve that, and more," he wrote.

Japanese Prime Minister Naota Kan told the volunteers, "You are the only ones who can resolve a crisis. Retreat is unthinkable," according to the Financial Times.

They are working as temperatures at the plants soar to nerve wracking levels, radiation is leaking, rain may be carrying it down upon them, and a toxic fire burns, likely spewing more radiation into the atmosphere.

There is little information about who actually stayed behind, but nuclear experts say the skeleton crew is likely made up not of managers, but of technicians, men who have the schematics of the plant in their head and can fix pipes and unclog vents.

They've gone into battle, crawling at times through dark mazes, armed with flashlights and radiation detectors, wearing full body hazmat suits and breathing through cumbersome oxygen tanks.

Potentially deadly doses of radiation surround them as they work, and their suits do little to prevent radiation from seeping into their bodies.