By Eve Andrée Laramée

A whole class of basically undocumented workers who travel the US, from plant to plant. When they exceed their RAD limit at one, they move on to another plant. A practice tacitly accepted by the industry. This has been going on as long as the nuclear industry. Warnings have been issued, suggestions have been made, but the industry couldn’t function without them. So, nothing has been done. Laws exist, but they are not enforced. Records could be kept, but they are not. In a tragic version of “don’t ask, don’t tell”- few questions are raised & the workers, in dire need of money, have no incentive to come forward.

Posted 3/1/12: New hour long film featuring footage on Fukushima “Glow Boys” workers who would go into the reactor for just a few minutes before reaching critical dosage to try to stabilize the reactors during meltdown and melt-through.

INSIDE JAPAN’S NUCLEAR MELTDOWN – PBS Frontline

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/japans-nuclear-meltdown/

NUCLEAR GINZA (1995) DOCUMENTARY FILM, Directed by Nicholas Rohl

Part 1

Part 2

JAPAN’S NUCLEAR GYPSIES FACE RADIOACTIVE PERIL AT POWER PLANTS, Los Angeles Time, Dec. 4, 2011

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-japan-nuclear-gypsies-20111204,0,347252.story?page=1

JAPAN OUTSOURCES NUCLEAR CLEANUP RISKS TO SUBCONTRACTORS, Engineering News Record, Dec. 4, 2011

http://enr.construction.com/yb/enr/article.aspx?story_id=166602281&mid=546

JAPAN’S NUCLEAR GYPSIES, Al Jazeera, English

WHO COUNTS THE NUMBER OF DEAD WORKERS AT FUKUSHIMA? Not TEPCO or the Government, IWJ Independent Web Journal

NUCLEAR NOMADS IN GERMAN NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS: TEMPORARY WORKERS ARE EXPOSED TO HIGHER RADIATION, Economics Newspaper, Daniel Karmann

http://economicsnewspaper.com/policy/german/nuclear-nomads-in-german-nuclear-power-plants-temporary-workers-are-exposed-to-higher-radiation-apparently-31309.html

ACE HOFFMAN’S NUCLEAR FAILURES: GAMMA SPONGES, GLOW BOYS, SUICIDE SQUADS, JUMPERS, BIO-ROBOTS., Ace Hoffman’s Nuclear Failures Blog

http://acehoffman.blogspot.com/2011/04/gamma-sponges-glow-boys-suicide-squads.html

NUCLEAR JANITORS RISK HEALTH AND SAFETY, Nuclear Free Planet

http://www.nuclearfreeplanet.org/articles/nuclear-janitors-risk-health-and-safety.html

NUCLEAR JANITORS RISK HEALTH AND SAFETY, Multinational Monitor, by Veta Christie, Feb. 1984, Vol 5 No 3

http://multinationalmonitor.org/hyper/issues/1984/02/christy.html

THE GLOW BOYS: HOW DESPERATE WORKERS ARE MOPPING UP AMERICA’S NUCLEAR MESS, Mother Jones Magazine, article by Paul Bagne, Nov. 1982

http://books.google.com/books?id=eeYDAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PT26&ots=veRpCe-Dif&dq=glow%20boys%20mother%20jones&pg=PT23#v=onepage&q=glow%20boys%20mother%20jones&f=false

GLOW BOYS AND GAMMA SPONGES: FUKUSHIMA SUICIDE SQUADS, Counter Punch, by Russell D. Hoffman, April 4, 2011

http://www.counterpunch.org/hoffman04042011.html

AMAZING CHERNOBYL BIO-ROBOTS IN NUCLEAR FALL OUT: Newly uncovered footage from the Russian State Media Archive, RTR Worldwide

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeamRWOgqdI

INTO THE BOWELS OF A NUCLEAR REACTOR: They’re called Jumpers and they go where no one else will., New Times San Luis Obispo, by Shawna Galassi, Jan 21, 2004

http://archive.newtimesslo.com/archive/2004-01-21/archives/cov_stories_2003/cov_07242003.html

WHAT’S IN STORE FOR JAPAN’S EMBATTLED NUCLEAR WORKERS?, Time, by Krista Mahr, March 31, 2011

http://globalspin.blogs.time.com/2011/03/31/whats-in-store-for-japan’s-embattled-nuclear-workers/

WANTED: U.S. WORKERS FOR CRIPPLED JAPAN NUKE PLANT, Investment Watch, April 1, 2011

http://investmentwatchblog.com/wanted-u-s-workers-for-crippled-japan-nuke-plant/

FILM REVIEW – GLOW BOYS, By Mark Aerial Waller, 1999, 14 min, video, Lux Online, MUTE, Issue 11, by Pauline van Mourik Broekmann (This link has clips, stills, and info on the filmmaker)

http://www.luxonline.org.uk/artists/mark_aerial_waller/glow_boys.html

NUCLEAR GYPSY FROM HAMAOKA NUCLEAR POWER PLANT RELATES EXPERIENCES, Enformable/Enformed/Enforming Nuclear News Blog

http://enformable.com/2011/08/nuclear-gypsy-from-hamaoka-nuclear-power-plant-relates-experiences/

HEALTH EFFECTS OF CHERNOBYL: 25 YEARS AFTER THE REACTOR CATASTROPHE, by German Affiliate of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (Section on the Chernobyl “Liquidators” begins on page 17)

http://www.chernobylcongress.org/fileadmin/user_upload/pdfs/chernob_report_2011_en_web.pdf

GENPATSU GYPSIES: HIDDEN TRAGEDY OF JAPAN’S NUCLEAR LABOR FORCE by Nagamitsu Miura

https://www.facebook.com/?sk=inbox&action=read&tid=71a6ad25e05a4d90914ea1f2c467b42e

SYSTEM OF DISPOSABLE LABORERS, by Sonni Efron, Los Angeles Times, Column One, December 30, 1999

http://articles.latimes.com/1999/dec/30/news/mn-49042

THE TRUTH ABOUT FUKUSHIMA ‘NUCLEAR SAMURAI’ by Suzanne Goldenberg March 21, 2011

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/21/nuclear-samurai-fukushima-japan-reactor?CMP=twt_gu

INTERVIEW WITH ADI ROCHE, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF IRELAND-BASED “CHERNOBYL CHILDREN’S PROJECT” by John Lekay, Part three mentions the Chernobyl “liquidators”, and includes photographs by Paul Fusco, Elena Filatova, Igor Kostin, Adi Roche, Defend The Blackhills and others. Heyoka Magazine

http://heyokamagazine.com/HEYOKA.9.AdiRoche.1.htm

Contracted Worker San Onofre Fell Into Reactor Spent Fuel Pool

http://enformable.com/2012/02/san-onofre-contract-worker-fell-inside-reactor-pool/

U.S. Acknowledges Radiation Killed Weapons Workers, New York TImes, 1/29/2000

http://www.nytimes.com/2000/01/29/us/us-acknowledges-radiation-killed-weapons-workers.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm

Killing Our Own: The Disaster of America’s Experience with Atomic Radiation, Harvey Wasserman & Norman Solomon

http://www.nucleardemolition.com/Killing_Our_Own.pdf

Faces of and statements by the workers at Fukushima

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqwCrARb0Do&feature=youtu.be

Chernobyl Bio-Robots

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsG8m4hH5Ck&feature=plcp

Swimming on the Hot Side

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2012-03/swimming-hot-side?page=all

Nuclear Divers