The effort to clean up and shut down Japan's crippled, leaking Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power facility will be long and dangerous. Just this week, two more workers in their 30s and 40s were reportedly exposed to potentially deadly amounts of radiation. That's nonsense, says a group of 250 over-60 retired engineers and other professionals with a strong sense of "sacrificial spirit." This selfless Skilled Veterans Corps — dubbed the "suicide corps" — is lobbying to take over the cleanup effort to spare Japan's younger workers. So far, Japan's government has declined the group's offer. But should it reconsider?
Let the retirees get to work: These brave elderly pensioners say they won't develop cancer in time to die from it, and their reasoning is hard to refute, says Emily Lodish in GlobalPost. When capable retirees can "do the work without paying the price," why should Japan's scarce young workers risk their future? The government is balking at the idea for now, but "honestly, what are they waiting for?... Let the old people in!"
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