15 Years On: 2 GSDF Members Recount Do-or-Die N-Plant Mission

Saitama, March 11 (Jiji Press)–Two members of Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Force have recounted the experience of risking their lives during a hydrogen explosion at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant in March 2011. “When the situation becomes truly dangerous, the words of the oath resonate all the more in my heart,” one of the members said. He was talking about the oath each SDF member takes when joining the SDF, “Without regard for danger, I will devote myself to the complete fulfillment of my duties and meet the mandate of the people.” Maj. Mitsuhiro Hamamoto, 44, and Sgt. 1st Class Makoto Iwano, 45, both of the GSDF’s Central Nuclear Biological Chemical Weapon Defense Unit at Camp Omiya in Saitama, near Tokyo, were injured in the blast during a mission to cool a reactor. “I knew it could be a fatal mission” following the news that the No. 1 reactor of the power plant had a hydrogen explosion on March 12, said Hamamoto, then an officer candidate. But he said he “felt determined and calm” after arriving at the plant. Iwano said, “It was scary to some extent, but I felt we were the only ones that could go.” At 11:01 a.m. March 14, a hydrogen explosion occurred at the No. 3 reactor just as three water tank trucks carrying six unit members, including Hamamoto and Iwano, entered the grounds of the reactor building for work to inject water into the unit, which had lost its cooling functions due to a power outage. “I heard a bang like fireworks,” Iwano said. Debris from the building damaged by the explosion rained on the trucks. Hamamoto pushed a subordinate, who was about to exit the driver’s seat, under the dashboard as dust obscured his view. At the same time, a chunk of concrete that punched through the vehicle’s fabric ceiling hit Hamamoto’s right knee, leaving him bruised. Four of the six members were injured. Iwano sustained a fractured rib that required a month to heal, hit by debris that flew through a window. Unaware of what had happened at the time, the members later learned at the off-site emergency response center in the town of Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, that a hydrogen explosion had occurred. Before returning to the center, they rescued TEPCO employees and others. Hamamoto said he suffered a severe headache although the radiation dose readings were below safety limits. “I later learned that it was caused by the stable iodine tablets we took beforehand” to prevent internal exposure, he said with a laugh. The two left Fukushima for treatment but returned soon after to assist in the searches for missing people and in the operation of decontamination facilities. Iwano said he understands the weight of the SDF oath “only because I went through such a dangerous mission.” “The challenge now is how to pass on our hands-on experience to younger members who don’t know about the disaster,” Hamamoto said. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]