FUKUSHIMA — At the edge of a no-man's land around the Fukushima No. 1 reactor complex lies a grassy athletic village that now serves as base camp for an army of workers battling the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.

In regular rotation, groups are bused out to three-day shifts of punishing work at the water-logged, radiation-spewing complex. They stop only to gulp canned food and steal a nap on the floor, before they can return to J-Village, an oasis on the outskirts of an evacuated wasteland.

To recognize the dedication of the hundreds of workers risking their lives, Prime Minister Naoto Kan visited J-Village on Saturday, the second time he has ventured into the nuclear crisis zone since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami spawned the disaster.