Fukushima Informative Speech

Purpose: To inform the audience about the heroic actions of the Fukushima Daiichi cleanup workers. Thesis: The Fukushima Daiichi cleanup workers are incredibly brave. Introduction: The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster was the largest nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. It measured 7 on the Nuclear Event Scale, which is the highest rating. The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster was initiated by a magnitude 9 earthquake. This earthquake caused a tsunami with waves reaching up to 133 feet to crash on the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. This caused major damage to the nuclear plant. Workers were needed to keep this already terrible incident from escalading. The Fukushima Daiichi cleanup workers are incredibly brave. Today, I would like to tell you about the bravery of the Fukushima 50, the Skilled Veterans Corps, and the Fukushima Firefighters. Body: 1)The Fukushima 50 are a group of 50 workers who remained to clean up the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant a. The name â€Å"Fukushima 50† was created by the media honoring these workers i. It was an endearing name given to these brave men who stayed behind to defuse the nuclear meltdown. II. These men knew the dangers, but they stayed in order to protect the public from this nuclear disaster. iii. One unnamed man said, â€Å"We felt like members of the Tokkotai. † (BBC) b. The Fukushima 50 inspired bravery in other people as well i. Days after these brave workers volunteered, nearby companies sent in more volunteers to help the Fukushima 50. ii. Companies such as Toshiba, Hitachi, Yokohama, Kawasaki, and many others sent in teams of volunteers to help out 1. These workers did jobs such as spraying water to cool the reactor cores, decontamination, installing water pumps and many other crucial jobs. ii. The combined effort of all these workers helped the situation from getting worse and protected the public from the radiation Transition 1: The efforts of the Fukushima 50 inspired a group of Japanese’s seniors dubbed the suicide corps to volunteer. 2)The group of Japanese seniors called the Skilled Veterans Corps decided to volunteer in an effort to replac e some of the younger workers a. The Skilled Veterans Corps is a group of 250 people over the age of 60 who are willing to volunteer. i. Their idea simple, since they are old, they will not live to see the harmful long-term effects of the radiation. They want to work instead of the younger generation to prevent them from being exposed to these high levels of radiation. b. The media starting calling these men the suicide corps but they reject this nickname and prefer to go by The Skilled Veteran Corps. i. The name â€Å"Suicide Corps† is a play on the Kamikazes from World War II however, they say it is not suicide since they will not live to see the effects of the radiation. ii. Yasuteru Yamada, a member of the Skilled Veterans Corps, said to CNN, â€Å"We have to work instead of them; Elders have less sensitivity to radiation. (CNN) iii. These members of the Skilled Veterans Corps are brave and selfless. Transition 2: The Skilled Veterans Corps were brave and selfless and the Fukushima firefighters shared these attributes. 3)The Fukushima Firefighters are the brave men who helped defuse the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. a. Fresh water was a key necessity to cool down the nuclear reactor cores. i. Without fresh water, the core would overheat and explode causing more damage and spread the radiation further. ii. Tokyo fire departments elite Hyper Rescue Squad was specially trained for situations like this. 1. These firefighters braved the radiation in order to help cool down the cores b. The members of the Hyper Rescue Squad had to leave there family’s behind in order to combat the nuclear disaster. i. Yasuhiro Ishii’s, a member of the Hyper Rescue Squad, wife asked him if he really had to go to Fukushima and begged him not too. ii. However Ishii said, â€Å"†Normally, a mission involves saving a limited number of people, but this was something much bigger. It involved not only the helping the entire nation but also future generations. I had to go. † (Telegraph UK) Conclusion: Today I have spoken to you all about bravery of the Fukushima 50, the Skilled Veterans Corps, and the Fukushima Firefighters. These Brave men have risked it all in order to clean up and decontaminate the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster. They did this so that the public would be saved from the radiation and so that future generations would not have to bear he harmful effects of radiations. These men deserve our respect and graditude