Human crisis unfolds

A photo shows storage tanks containing highly radioactive water at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Okuma, northeast of Tokyo, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. - EPA

Cleaning up the world’s worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl is taking its toll on workers at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant.

DRESSED in a hazardous materials suit, full-face mask and hard hat, Japan’s prime minister Shinzo Abe left his audience in no doubt: “The future of Japan,” he said, “rests on your shoulders. I am counting on you.”