They're known as the "Fukushima 50," and they're Japan's only hope of avoiding a Chernobyl-like catastrophe.
The men, unidentified technicians and emergency workers, are desperately battling to save potentially millions of their countrymen -- knowing that even if they succeed, they'll likely die from lethal doses of radiation.
Chernobyl workers who stayed at their stations when the Ukrainian reactor exploded in 1986 died within three months of exposure.