The world is looking anxiously on as the Japanese attempt toprevent the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant from meltingdown. The effects will be far-reaching for many, but the workersthemselves are in the most dire situation, risking extremeradiation poisoning as they attempt to control the reactors. Theirtragic situation makes one wonder about the status of workers'compensation and labor laws in extreme circumstances.

It seems that their dangerous job is made all the more risky bya lack of legal resources and oversight. As Washington D.C.-basedinvestigative journalist Tim Shorrock posted on his blog, themajority of the workers exposed to radiation in nuclear accidentsover the years have been subcontracted workers, hiredfor "brief periods to do the most dangerous work in the nuclearindustry," not just working for the power plant but for the nuclearfuel facilities and waste burial sites. These workers are called"genpatsu gypsies" because they often move from plant to plantthroughout the year, and in reports asfar back as 1992, they made up nearly 89 percent of theemployees in the industry and receive "more than 90 percent of allradiation exposure."

While the American nuclear power industry does not have "nuclearnomads," it similarly has a two-tiered system of employment.

Because the workers are not directly employed by the powercompanies and move around so often, it's nearly impossible to keeptabs on their health, and to any event the power companies likeTokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) are not obligated to covertheir heath care costs. Attempts in the 1980s to unionize wereunsuccessful, and it is unclear whether there is a movement tochange that.

Many workers accept the conditions and risks of the work becauseof the pay. One of the anonymous "Fukushima 50," the workerscurrently working on rescuing the damaged plant, told the Mainichi Daily News that he decided to work at the plant evenafter the disaster not only because he wanted to do this importantjob, but because he wanted to continue working for the company. "Iwant to keep supporting myself with this job," he said. "If Iturned it down, I would be put in a bad position. I want tocontinue this work for the company. I want to cooperate with thecompany and do what I'm told as much as possible."

It should be noted that the individuals dealing with the currentsituation at Fukushima Daiichi are not all contractors. TheInternationalAtomic Energy Agency reported on March 17 that of the 17 peoplewho suffered from radioactive material deposits on their faces,eight were subcontractors while the other nine were TEPCOemployees.

Considering that the Fukushima 50 have shouldered the burden ofsaving the plant and that all eyes are on them, it is likely thattheir health care will be taken care of if, not by the company andthe government then by international donations.

Unfortunately, it seems that there will be health costs. TheJapanese Health Ministry announced recently that it would raise thelegal radiation exposure limit from 100 to 250 millisieverts. Thisis five times the legal limit at American power plants. Then again,20 percent of people already die of cancer, and this new exposurewould increase the workers' cancer risk by 1 percent; consideringthe scope of the disaster at stake, workers may think their job isworth the risk.

It is troubling that there are no unions and no workers'compensation in place for many nuclear power plant laborers. At thesame time, some think that regardless of the legal rights of theworkers, people should not be put in such extreme situations.

Slate writerWilliam Saletan talks about the existence of radiation-resistantrobots for just these sorts of catastrophic events, particularly inFrance, where a system exists to deploy robots and operatorsanywhere in the country within 24 hours of a nuclear disaster.However,  few nuclear power companies are willing tospring for the time, research and cost of machines that hopefullyare never used.

Japan has been asking the international community for anyrobotic assistance possible, but until then, human workers willstruggle to contain the damage. One can only hope there will be acompensation system in place for them once the crisis isaverted.