Kazuma Yokota is being hailed as a modern samurai - one of the so-called Fukushima 50 who stayed at the crippled plant as its reactors threatened to melt down in the wake of Japan's devastating earthquake and huge tsunami.
The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency official says workers were given one blanket each and two meagre meals a day as they struggled to avert a nuclear disaster.
"The working conditions were harsh," he said.
"The workers inside the plant were toiling very hard. We'd have emergency biscuits for breakfast and a small bag of rice for dinner. There was the odd can of food too.
"The workers were all sleeping together in the plant's meeting room, in the hallway and in front of the toilet."
The Fukushima 50 were tasked with connecting electric cables and repairing smashed machinery and pumps in a bid to restart the plant's cooling systems.
But even a short period near the reactors meant exposing themselves to dangerous levels of radiation.
"We had lead sheets brought in and put on the floors to block the radiation," Mr Yokota said.
"But we were still exposed. I was exposed to 883 microsieverts during the five days I was there."
That is about the same as nine chest X-rays, but is low compared to what happened to 19 other workers who have been exposed to more than 100 times that amount.
Reinforcements have since been sent to Fukushima and the number of workers there has now risen to 400.
But dangerously high radiation levels mean the crews can only work one-hour shifts at a time.
The plant's operator TEPCO has admitted it did not properly warn workers about the high levels of radiation in the water in reactor No. 3.
Three workers were exposed while laying electric cables in the reactor's turbine building last week and two of them were standing up to their ankles in radioactive water for two hours.
Their protective gear was simply not up to the task but they have now been released from hospital after having their burns treated.
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