Hero's vow to nuke it out

A worker who signed her own death warrant by remaining inside Japan's radiation-spewing nuclear plant vowed that she and her colleagues will "battle on" -- as the latest efforts to avert a catastrophic meltdown from outside the power station appeared to have little effect.

Michiko Otsuki, who was working at Fukushima Daiichi's Reactor No. 2 when the tsunami hit a week ago today, is the lone voice to be heard from the front line of the battle.

"In the midst of the tsunami alarm at 3 a.m., when we couldn't even see where we were going, we carried on working to restore the reactors . . . with the realization that this could be certain death," she blogged.

"The machine that cools the reactor is just by the ocean, and it was wrecked by the tsunami. Everyone desperately tried to restore it. Fighting fatigue and empty stomachs, we dragged ourselves back to work."

Many of her colleagues inside the plant "haven't gotten in touch with their family members but are facing the present situation and working hard.

"Everyone at the power plant is battling on, without running away," she added.

Otsuki was evacuated on Monday -- but wants to rejoin her colleagues who are "putting their lives on the line without a second thought."

She hopes to be called back inside to "work on restoration of the reaction," she said.

Relatives of other plant workers described their pain in e-mails and on Twitter.

"My dad is still working at the plant. They are running out of food," one woman wrote, according to ABC News. "He says he's accepted his fate."

A 27-year-old woman tweeted that her father "volunteered [to go in] even though he will retiring in just half a year.

"My eyes are filling up with tears," she wrote. "I was really proud of him. And pray for his safe return."

Otsuki was among 750 workers evacuated from the plant on Monday, leaving behind the heroic band dubbed the "Fukushima 50" -- for the number of people on the teams that rotate in and out.

Their number grew to 180 Wednesday and 332 yesterday as the Tokyo Electric Power Co. rushed in more volunteers.

Outside the plant, tons of water was dropped on the complex by helicopters, but much of it blew away. Water shot out of cannons and fire engines had little effect because crews were kept at a distance.

Helicopter drops were stopped early today without explanation.

The effect of the water attacks was unclear. After they began, radiation in the plant rose from 3,700 microsieverts an hour to 4,000 before dropping to 2,800 this morning.

Trying to drown the plant is like using "squirt guns against a forest fire," said Michio Kaku, a physics professor at CCNY.

He told MSNBC the Japanese would be better off using the approach the Soviets did at Chernobyl -- dropping concrete and sand on the plant to entomb it.

A new electric line was installed and officials expect power to the plant to be restored today. If it works, technicians will be able to use electricity to power the pumps that cool the nuclear fuel. The pumps have been operated manually by the workers.

Gregory Jaczko, chairman of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said in Washington that efforts to get the reactors back under control will go on for days, "possibly weeks."

In other developments:

* The death toll rose to 6,400, with more than 10,200 missing.

* The mayor of Minamisoma, just 12 miles from the plant, blasted the Japanese government, telling the BBC, "They are leaving us here to die."

He said people in the town of 1,700 learned of the nuclear disaster only on TV.

Town residents, he said, have been ordered to stay where they are, despite their location on the edge of the evacuation zone.

* Low levels of radiation have been detected well beyond Tokyo, 140 miles south of the plant.

* Companies and residents are being asked to conserve power as rolling blackouts continue.

* The Bank of Japan pumped an additional $37.5 billion into the economy. The Nikkei 225 was up about more than 3 percent by mid-afternoon.

* President Obama called for a comprehensive safety review of all 104 nuclear reactors in the United States.

"When we see a crisis like the one in Japan, we have a responsibility to learn from this event and to draw from those lessons to ensure the safety and security of our people," he said.

Obama also said that no part of the United States, including Hawaii, Alaska and the West Coast, is at risk from the radiation spreading from Japan .