http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_japan_chernobyl_jumperSINGAPORE (Reuters) – Six times, Sergei Belyakov says, he has been through the doorway to hell and back.
The Ukrainian-American was a volunteer "jumper" who helped clean up after the nuclear disaster in the town of Chernobyl in the former Soviet Union in April, 1986.
These are people who jump into a radioactive area to clear debris or mend pipes and run to safety before radiation reaches lethal levels.
Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) is trying to get jumpers -- reportedly for $5,000 a day -- to bring its damaged nuclear power plant in northern Japan under control after it was severely damaged by last month's earthquake and tsunami, the world's worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl.
Six times during his 40-day tenure at Chernobyl, Belyakov was one of the hundreds crouching in the covered stairway leading to the roof of nuclear reactors 3 and 4. Outside, radioactivity was so high that it could kill within minutes.
"It was the doorway to hell," he told Reuters, recalling events of 25 years ago. "Right at the door there was an elaborate and professionally done drawing on the wall, like a fresco, which showed you the roof in 3-D.
"The guy (at the door) tells you, you go here, you do this, you go around this, this ladder is not good so don't go there because you may fall with it. You mentally imprint what you need to do, you follow that. Then you run."
Guys like this are going to be the ones who avert a larger crisis in Japan.