Austere conditions for Fukushima Workers

Fukushima Workers sleep anywhere they can find open space, in conference rooms, corridors, even stairwells. 

They have one blanket, no pillows and a leaded mat intended to keep radiation at bay.They eat only two meals each day -- a carefully rationed breakfast of 30 crackers and vegetable juice and for dinner, a ready-to-eat meal or something out of a can.They clean themselves with wet wipes, since the supply of fresh water is short.

These are the grueling living conditions for the workers inside Japan's crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. They've been hailed as heroes risking their lives by braving high levels of radiation as they work to avert a nuclear meltdown.

But until now, the outside world has known little about the workers' routine.

The workers look tired, Yokota said. They are furiously connecting electrical cables, repairing instrument panels and pumping radioactive water out.

They work with the burden of their own personal tragedies always weighing heavily.The workers spend three days on site and go off for one. They start their work day at 8 a.m. and go for 12 long hours.