50 workers bravely stay at troubled Japan reactors

March 16, New York Times
A small crew of technicians, braving radiation and fire, became the only people remaining at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station on Tuesday â€” and perhaps Japanâ€™s last chance of preventing a broader nuclear catastrophe.

They crawl through labyrinths of equipment in utter darkness pierced only by their flashlights, listening for periodic explosions as hydrogen gas escaping from crippled reactors ignites on contact with air. They breathe through uncomfortable respirators or carry heavy oxygen tanks on their backs. They wear white, full-body jumpsuits with snug-fitting hoods that provide scant protection from the invisible radiation sleeting through their bodies. They are the faceless 50, the unnamed operators who stayed behind. They have volunteered, or been assigned, to pump seawater on dangerously exposed nuclear fuel, already thought to be partly melting and spewing radioactive material, to prevent full meltdowns that could throw thousands of tons of radioactive dust high into the air and imperil millions of their compatriots. [On Wednesday, the reactorâ€™s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company, said it had been able to double the number of workers at the plant to 100 as a result of falling radiations levels. It was not immediately clear when the additional workers were sent to the plant.] Workers struggled on Tuesday and Wednesday to keep hundreds of gallons of seawater a minute flowing through temporary fire pumps into the three stricken reactors, Nos. 1, 2 and 3. Among the many problems that officials acknowledged on Wednesday was what appeared to be yet another fire at the plant and indications that the containment vessel surrounding a reactor may have ruptured. That reactor, No. 3, appeared to be releasing radioactive steam. The workers are being asked to make escalating â€” and perhaps existential â€” sacrifices that so far are being only implicitly acknowledged: Japanâ€™s Health Ministry said Tuesday it was raising the legal limit on the amount of radiation to which each worker could be exposed, to 250 millisieverts from 100 millisieverts, five times the maximum exposure permitted for American nuclear plant workers. The change means that workers can now remain on site longer, the ministry said. â€œIt would be unthinkable to raise it further than that, considering the health of the workers,â€ the health minister, Yoko Komiyama, said at a news conference. There was also a suggestion on Wednesday that more workers may be brought to help save the power station. Tokyo Electric Power, the plantâ€™s operator, has said almost nothing at all about the workers, including how long a worker is expected to endure exposure. The few details Tokyo Electric has made available paint a dire picture. Five workers have died since the quake and 22 more have been injured for various reasons, while two are missing. One worker was hospitalized after suddenly grasping his chest and finding himself unable to stand, and another needed treatment after receiving a blast of radiation near a damaged reactor. Eleven workers were injured in a hydrogen explosion at reactor No. 3. Nuclear reactor operators say that their profession is typified by the same kind of esprit de corps found among firefighters and elite military units. Lunchroom conversations at reactors frequently turn to what operators would do in a severe emergency. The consensus is always that they would warn their families to flee before staying at their posts to the end, said Michael Friedlander, a former senior operator at three American power plants for a total of 13 years. â€œYouâ€™re certainly worried about the health and safety of your family, but you have an obligation to stay at the facility,â€ he said. â€œThere is a sense of loyalty and camaraderie when youâ€™ve trained with guys, youâ€™ve done shifts with them for years.â€ Adding to this natural bonding, jobs in Japan confer identity, command loyalty and inspire a particularly fervent kind of dedication. Economic straits have chipped away at the hallowed idea of lifetime employment for many Japanese, but the workplace remains a potent source of community. Mr. Friedlander said that he had no doubt that in an identical accident in the United States, 50 volunteers could be found to stay behind after everyone else evacuated from an extremely hazardous environment. But Japanese are raised to believe that individuals sacrifice for the good of the group. The reactor operators face extraordinary risks. Tokyo Electric evacuated 750 emergency staff members from the stricken plant on Tuesday, leaving only about 50, when radiation levels soared. By comparison, standard staffing levels at the three active General Electric reactors on the site would be 10 to 12 people apiece including supervisors â€” an indication that the small crew left behind is barely larger than the contingent on duty on a quiet day. Daiichi is not synonymous with Chernobyl in terms of the severity of contamination. The Ukrainian reactor blew up and spewed huge amounts of radiation for 10 days in 1986. But workers at the plants have a bond. Among plant employees and firefighters at Chernobyl, many volunteered to try to tame, and then entomb, the burning reactor â€” although it is not clear that all were told the truth about the risks. Within three months, 28 of them died from radiation exposure. At least 19 of them were killed by infections that resulted from having large areas of their skin burned off by radiation, according to a recent report by a United Nations scientific committee. And 106 others developed radiation sickness, with nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and dropping blood counts that left them highly vulnerable to infections. The people who had suffered radiation sickness developed other problems later, according to the report: cataracts, severe scarring from the radiation burns to their skin and an increased number of deaths from leukemia and other blood cancers. Some of those Chernobyl workers were exposed to levels of radiation far beyond what has been measured to date at Daiichi â€” especially helicopter pilots who flew through radiation-laden smoke spewing from the reactor to drop fire-extinguishing chemicals on it. Radiation close to the reactors was reported to reach 400 millisieverts per hour on Tuesday after a blast inside reactor No. 2 and fire at reactor No. 4, but has since dropped back to as low as 0.6 millisieverts at the plant gate. Tokyo Electric and Japanese regulators have not released any statistics on radiation levels inside the containment buildings where engineers are desperately trying to fix electrical systems, pumps and other gear wrecked by Fridayâ€™s earthquake and tsunami. But nuclear experts said that indoor radiation levels were likely to be higher because the containment buildings were probably still preventing most radiation from leaving the plant. The site is now so contaminated with radiation, experts say, that it has become difficult for employees to work near the reactors for extended periods of time. According to one expertâ€™s account of nuclear emergency procedures, workers would be cycled in and out of the worst-hit parts of the plant. In some cases, when dealing with a task in a highly radioactive area of the plant, workers might line up and handle the task only for minutes at a time before passing off to the next worker, said Katsuhiko Ishibashi, a former professor in the Research Center for Urban Safety and Security at Kobe University. Tokyo Electric has refused to release the names or any other information about the 50 workers who stayed behind, nor have utility executives said anything about how they are being relieved as they become tired or ill. Some of those battling flames and spraying water at reactors at Daiichi are members of Japanâ€™s Self-Defense Force, police officers or firefighters. Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa said Tuesday that Self-Defense Force soldiers might be called on to fly the helicopters Tokyo Electric may use to spray water onto the overheating used fuel storage pool at reactor No. 4. The same day, however, members of Japanâ€™s nuclear watchdog group, who had been stationed about three miles from the plant, were moved to a site 18 miles away. (The authorities later said that using helicopters to put spray water on reactor No. 4 might not be feasible.) If the plant operator is limiting the exposure of each worker at Daiichi â€” and calling on hundreds of volunteers to make up the 50 on site at any given time â€” then Chernobyl may offer some consolation. To clean up the Chernobyl site after the accident, the Soviet Union conscripted workers in proportion to the size of each of its republics, and developed a system to limit their exposure. â€œThey sent up to 600,000 people in to clean up the radioactive debris around the plant and build a sarcophagus,â€ said Dr. John Boice, an author of the study, a professor of medicine at Vanderbilt and the scientific director of the International Epidemiology Institute in Rockvillle, Md. The workers were sent into contaminated zones for limited periods.

The LARGEST HUMAN DOMINICAN CROSS

Largest Dominican Cross

Santo Thomas University in Philippines

Largest Human Dominican Cross an attempt for Guinness World Record

We would like to share with you some ground and aerial shots of the â€œLargest Dominican Crossâ€ formed by the administrators, faculty, employees and students of the University of Santo Tomas (UST) yesterday, March 9, 2011.Â Twenty-four thousand people were present at the UST football field to form the black and white cross; it was an attempt to be included in the Guinness Book of World Records.Â This event was done to begin a season of prayer and penance this Lent, in line too with the Quadricentennial celebration of the University.

UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS CELEBRATES ITS 400TH

UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS CELEBRATES ITS 400^TH

The University of Santo Tomas (UST), Manila, celebrated its 400^th Foundation Anniversary with profound gratitude, joyful hope and unending grace. The glorious Grand Week (January 24-28, 2011) of the UST Quadricentennial Celebrations included outstanding religious, academic and cultural events. The Grand Week or Semana Grande of the Royal and Pontifical University began in the evening of January 24 with a solemn Eucharistic celebration and closed in the evening of January 28 with a most solemn Mass and a banquet.

The UST week-long celebration was ushered in by the Opening of the Door of the University Chapel and Santissimo Rosario Parish Church turned through the year-long quadricentennial celebration into a Jubilee Church, where Thomasians, parishioners and visitors may gain plenary indulgences under the usual conditions. Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales, Archbishop of Manila, opened the door of the Church and presided over the Eucharist concelebrated by about seventy priests, most of them Dominicans. In his moving homily, the good Cardinal spoke well of the 400 years of history of the University of Santo Tomas, the oldest university in Asia and now the biggest Catholic University in the world, with forty two thousand students.Â Archbishop Rosales highlighted some salient points in the history of the university, above all its essential role in shaping the Filipino nation and the Philippine Church. The University counts among its illustrious roster of alumni heroes, leaders and saints, including fifteen martyrs of the faith that constitute USTâ€™s purest glory.

On the second day of the UST Grand Week, the 10^th ICUSTA Conference â€“ attended by the members of the association and representatives from Catholic Universities throughout the world – opened with a High Mass, followed by the inaugural session at the UST Chapel, now the Jubilee Church. (ICUSTA stands for International Council of Universities of Saint Thomas Aquinas.) Archbishop Edward Joseph Adams, Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines, presided over the concelebrated Eucharist. The Keynote Address was given by Ninoy Aquino III, President of the Republic of the Philippines. While the Apostolic Nuncio focused in his homily on the essential role of UST, the Catholic University of the Philippines, in the local Church and other Asian Churches, the President of the Philippines centered his speech on the Universityâ€™s leadership role in Philippine education through four hundred years. The inaugural session of ICUSTA started with the warm welcoming words of Fr. Rolando V. de la Rosa, OP, UST Rector and closed with the reading of a unique resolution by the Philippine Congress, which praised the Universityâ€™ s remarkable history and thanked the university community for its outstanding work in molding the youth of the nation. Another highlight of the inaugural session was the Message of the Master of the Dominican Order, Fr. Bruno CadorÃ©, OP, who thanked the Dominicans in the Philippines and encouraged them to continue their mission in education and evangelization.

On the third day of the UST Grand Week, January 26, the ICUSTA Conference continued. Moreover, in the morning, thousands of students from the different colleges of the University held a street dance on the streets around the university. It was a scene to see and enjoy â€“ even the noise sounded joyful and youthful!

In the evening of the third day another great event took place: the Unveiling of the Quattromondial Monument found between the back of the UST Main Building and the Benavides Central Library, at the UST Quadricentennial Park. The monument, the latest landmark of the University campus, captures well the motto of the 400^th Anniversary, namely, â€œUST Building the Church, the Nation and the Family, Our Birthright and Destiny.â€Â The monument of bronze-glass and ten-meter-high was made by renowned UST alumnus Ramon Orlina. It is composed of four larger-than-life human figures in bronze representing a male and a female student, a teacher and a Dominican friar. Sculptor Orlina explained that â€œthe four figures represent the four centuries of excellence, erudition, spirituality and tradition that the university has displayed and inspired in every one of its stakeholders.â€Â The four youthful standing figures â€“with their backs against each other – hold a globe, with their raised-up hands to express the universality of the University, the interconnectedness of peoples and cultures. Three significant texts in Latin encircle the figures from top to bottom: the name of the University (Universitas Pontificia and Regalis Santi Thomae Aquinatis), the motto of the Dominicans (Contemplari et contemplata aliis tradere), and the focus of human and Christian education: work ethics and love (fideles in labore, proficientes in caritate).

The greatest day of the UST Grand Week was the Quidricentennial Day: January 28, the feast of St. Thomas Aquinas, Patron of the University. It was crowned by the Quadricentennial Mass, preceded by colorful Philippine folk dances and powerfully animated by the Symphony Orchestra and Choir of the UST Conservatory of Music. The solemn Thanksgiving Eucharist celebrated at the UST Grandstand and Open Field was presided by Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, Prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education and Legate of Pope Benedict XVI. Filipino Cardinals Ricardo Vidal and Gaudencio Rosales, the Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines, the Master of the Dominican Order, Fr. Quirico Pedregosa, OP, Prior Provincial of the Philippine Dominican Province, about 100 bishops, over one hundred Dominicans, nearly five hundred other religious and secular priests concelebrated with the Papal Legate. The Mass was attended by tens of thousands of Thomasians, parishioners, and friends of the University. In his homily, Cardinal Grocholewski spoke gratefully and admiringly of the great history of the University of Santo Tomas, particularly for the Philippine Church and other Asian Churches. He also referred to St. Thomas Aquinas and underlined three points in the life of the

Angelic Doctor, namely, his unique gift to harmonize faith and reason, his admirable humility and his exemplary fidelity to the Church.

The most awaited moment of the Eucharistic celebration was the taped video appearance and Message of Pope Benedict XVI, who was received with a thunderous applause and followed by a respectful silence. After hispaternal greeting to all, the Holy Father acknowledged the great importance of the event and recalled with gratitude the memory of the Founder of the University Bishop Miguel de Benavides and of the Dominicans who through 400 years guided well the University of Santo Tomas. Benedict XVI sees a very important role for the University and is convinced that it will continue contributing to the intellectual, spiritual and cultural enrichment of the Philippines and other countries. Invoking the memory of USTâ€™s Patron, St Thomas Aquinas, the Holy Father ended his message with his Apostolic Blessing to all.

Before the end of the Eucharist, Fr. Rolando de la Rosa, OP, UST Rector expressed the deep gratitude of the University to all those who made this wonderful day possible. He mentioned in particular, the members of the Dominican Province of Our Lady of the Rosary, for Â their important contribution through the 400 years of the University’s history.

A banquet in the 24-hectare campus for the whole university community followed the Eucharist. The day was capped by a short but colorful and elegant display of fireworks. As professors, alumni,

students and administrators were leaving the campus, one sentiment stood out: all seemed happy and proud, outrageously happy and unabashedly proud for being Thomasians at 400!

The yearlong celebration of the 400^th year foundation anniversary of the University of Santo Tomas continues – and with its unending grace. (FGB)

FEAST OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, OUR LADY OF CHINA

Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary, our Lady of China

(Diocese of Macau: Spring Festival; Diocese of Hong Kong and the rest of the GCA: Saturday prior to Second Sunday of May)

Entrance Antiphon

Mary became the mother of the eternal king, she maintained the glory of her virginity and was worthy of the joy of motherhood.(P.T.: Alleluia)

Collect

All powerful and eternal God,

You chose Mary as the mother of your Son, and our mother.

Grant we beseech You, that by her prayers,

You may bless the billions of Chinese people with peace and prosperity,

so that the whole Chinese nation would know, love and serve you.

We ask this through Christ our Lord your Son,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

One God, forever and ever. Amen.

Alleluia antiphon

Mary, you are the glory of the Church,

the pride of your people; you have brought us joy.

Prayer over the gifts

Merciful Father, receive the gifts which we offer on your altar today,

in union with our nation, our families, our lives and properties,

our work, our joys and pains;

Through this sacrifice, may we follow Maryâ€™s example,

to find joy in making sacrifice and to offer everything for you.

We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Post communion

Lord, we have received the sacred body of Your Son on this feast;

through the intercession of Mary, our Lady of China, protect our nation

so that we may follow the example of Maryâ€™s virtue

and faithfully love and serve you.

We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

CANDLE MASS: DAY OF CONSECRATED LIFE

Candle mass: Day of Consecrated Life

Blessing candles

The friars of St Dominic’s Macau celebrated the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple or the Candle mass with a solemn mass and a special thanksgiving for the gift of consecrated life. In accordance to the liturgical custom, the community congregated at the hall of the priory where the Prior, Fr. Alex blessed the candles and lead the solemn procession to the chapel. In his homily, reminded us of the meaning of the feast and how the principal actors of this mystery relate to our own lives as consecrated men. The sense of marvel and awe of Joseph and Mary, the thankfulness of Simeon and the joyfulness of Anna. All of them did not forget to proclaim the wonders of what they have seen and experienced.

Renewal consecrated life

In reference to religious life, he reiterated the four watch words of our life as Dominicans: come and see, go and preach… we cannot go out if we do not come to Him, to Jesus… and we cannot preach if we have not seen and experienced the salvation and the love of God to others. And at the same time he invites all of us to reflect how we live our vocation and how we should be thankful for it.

Offering candel to Our Lady

After the simple and soul searching homily, the community once again lighted their candles and celebrated a thanksgiving rite in the form of intercessory prayers and the brothers placed their candles at the feet of the image of the Virgin as sign of their offering of self to God through the hands of our Lady. At the end of the mass, the community chanted the beautiful canticle of Simeon reminding us that salvation had finally come upon us!