In 2011, on March 11, Japan experienced the worst radiation accident at the Fukushima 1 nuclear power plant, as a result of an earthquake and the ensuing tsunami.
The center of this ecological catastrophe was located 70 km. east of the island of Honshu. After a terrible earthquake of 9.1 points, a tsunami followed, which raised the ocean waters 40 meters high. This catastrophe horrified both the inhabitants of Japan and the whole world as a whole, the scale and consequences are simply horrifying.
Against the backdrop of this tragedy, people, even in distant Germany, bought dosimeters, gauze bandages and tried to "protect themselves" from radiation from the consequences of the Fukushima accident. People were in a panic state, and not only in Japan. As for the company itself, which owns the Fukushima 1 nuclear power plant, it suffered huge losses, and the country itself lost the race among a number of other countries in the field of engineering.
Development of the situation
In the 1960s of the last century, Japan began to pay more and more attention to nuclear energy, thereby planning to gain independence from energy imports, or at least reduce it. The country began to increase economic development, and as a result, the construction of nuclear power plants. In 2011, there were 54 reactors producing electricity (21 power plants), they generated almost 1/3 of the country's energy. As it turned out in the 80s. of the twentieth century, there were situations that were kept secret, learned about them only after the radiation accident in the land of the rising sun in 2011.
The construction of the Fukushima 1 nuclear power plant dates back to 1967.
The first generator, designed and built by the American side, began to operate in the spring of the distant 1971. Over the next 8 years, five more power units were added.
In general, when building a nuclear power plant, all cataclysms were taken into account, including, as it were, such an earthquake that occurred in 2011. But on March 11, 2011, there were not only fluctuations in the bowels of the earth, half an hour after the first shock, a tsunami hit.
It was the tsunami that followed almost immediately after the strongest earthquake and became the main cause of a catastrophe of such a huge scale, such gigantic destruction and crippled lives. The tsunami carried away everything in its path: be it cities, houses, trains, airports - everything.
FUKUSHIMA DISASTER
Tsunami, earthquake and human factor - the totality of the causes of the accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant 1. This disaster was eventually recognized as the second largest in the history of mankind.
The territory that was allocated for the construction of the nuclear power plant was located on a cliff, namely 35 m above sea level, but after a series of earthworks, the value dropped to 25 m. ? After all, their country is subject to such cataclysms as tsunamis.” What happened on that terrible day that changed the lives of not only people, but Japan as a whole?
In fact, the nuclear power plant was protected from the tsunami by a special dam, the height of which was 5.7 meters, it was believed that this would be more than enough. On March 11, 2011, only three of the six power units were operational. In reactors 4-6, the replacement of fuel assemblies was carried out according to the plan. As soon as the jolts became noticeable, the automatic protection system worked (this is provided for by the rules), that is, the operating power units stopped working and energy saving stopped. However, it was restored with the help of backup diesel generators, provided for just such cases, they were located at the lower level of the Fukushima 1 nuclear power plant, and the reactors began to cool. Meanwhile, a wave 15-17 m high covered the nuclear plant, breaking the dam: the territory of the nuclear power plant, including the lower levels, is flooded, diesel generators stop working, followed by the pumps that cool the stopped power units - all this served as an increase in pressure in the reactors , which at first they tried to drop into the thermal shell, but after a complete collapse, into the atmosphere. At this point, hydrogen enters the reactor simultaneously with steam, leading to radiation.
Over the next four days, the Fukushima 1 accident was accompanied by explosions, first in unit 1, then 3, and finally in 2, resulting in the destruction of the reactor vessels. These explosions resulted in the release of higher levels of radiation from the station.
TROUBLESHOOTING
There were 200 liquidator volunteers, but the main and terrible part was carried out by 50 of them, they were nicknamed "atomic samurai".
The workers tried to somehow cope or reduce the scale of the disaster, they sought to cool the three cores by pumping boric acid and sea water into them.
As attempts to eliminate the problem did not have the desired result, the level of radiation increased, the authorities decided to warn about the dangers of water consumption and food sources.
After some success, namely the delayed release of radiation, on April 6, the management of the nuclear plant said that the cracks were sealed, later they began to pump the irradiated water into storage for proper processing.
During the liquidation of the accident, there were no casualties.
Evacuation
Explosion at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. The authorities were afraid of radiation exposure of residents and therefore created a no-fly zone - thirty kilometers, the area was 20,000 km. around the station.
As a result, approximately 47,000 residents were evacuated. On April 12, 2011, the severity level of the nuclear emergency increased from 5 to 7 (the highest score, the same after the Chernobyl accident in 1986).
Consequences of Fukushima
The radiation level exceeded the norm by 5 times, even after several months it remained high in the evacuation zone. The disaster area was declared uninhabitable for decades.
The accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan was a huge misfortune for thousands of people who claimed their lives. The territory of the station and its surroundings are charged, including radioactive elements found in drinking water, milk and many other products, in sea water and in soil. The radiation background also increased in some regions of the country.
The Fukushima nuclear power plant was officially closed in 2013, and work is still underway to eliminate the consequences of the accident.
As of 2017, the damage amounted to 189 billion US dollars. The company's shares have fallen by 80% and it needs to pay compensation to 80,000 people - that's about 130 billion rubles. US dollars.
To completely solve the problem with the Fukushima nuclear power plant, Japan will spend about 40 years.
We offer you maps of radioactive contamination of Japan due to the accident at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant for individual prefectures of the country and an attempt to answer the question of concern to many: how do these data compare with the so-called. Chernobyl zoning of territories? 11/24/2011 ADDED maps for 6 new prefectures and a link to interactive maps.
To date, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan has published maps of radioactive contamination of the area as a result of the March accident at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant for the following 18 prefectures: Miyagi, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Yamagata, Fukushima, Gunma, Saitama, Chiba , Tokyo, Kanagawa, Niigata, Akita, Iwate, Shizuoka, Nagano, Yamanashi, Gifu and Toyama NEW!(Recall that there are 47 prefectures in Japan).
Maps for the last 6 prefectures (in bold) were released on November 11. The government is currently working on refining maps for the metropolitan area and further mapping for other prefectures in the country.
All original maps (in Japanese) are available on the Ministry's website available interactively (NEW!)
The most important maps for individual prefectures are presented at the end of this article.
All maps were compiled on the basis of the results of radiation monitoring carried out using helicopters and airplanes, taking into account data obtained directly on the earth's surface.
(A) background radiation at a height of 1 meter above the ground;
(B) density of soil contamination with 134 Cs and 137 Cs (sum of 2 isotopes);
(C) density of soil contamination with 134 Cs isotope
(D) density of soil contamination with 137 Cs isotope.
Note that the half-life of cesium-134 is 2 years, while that of cesium-137 is 30 years. At the moment, the population of the contaminated territories is fully exposed to the negative effects of both isotopes, however, when comparing with the experience of Chernobyl, we will rely primarily on maps of group "D", showing the contamination of the territory with cesium-137. This is due, in particular, to the fact that in the case of the Chernobyl accident, maps of radioactive contamination were compiled only after 3 years, that is, when a significant part of cesium-134 had already decayed. Consequently, there are virtually no Chernobyl pollution maps for the 134th cesium isotope.
Fortunately, in the first days after the accident, largely due to the wind rose in this part of the world, radioactive substances that were released into the atmosphere from the damaged reactors of the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant were mainly carried away towards the Pacific Ocean. However, twice - (i) on the night of March 14-15 and (ii) in the evening of March 21 - in the early morning of March 22 - a radioactive cloud still covered the prefectures of Honshu Island.
The figure on the right shows the density level of soil contamination with caesium-134 and caesium-137 (the sum of the two isotopes). Areas with pollution density from 30 to 60 kBq/m 2 are marked in pale orange, from 60 to 600 kBq/m 2 in orange.
As can be seen from the figure, if the first cloud (blue arrow) led to the fallout of radioactive substances in Tochigi and Gunma prefectures, then the second cloud (green arrow) moved south along the ocean edge and came ashore in the southern part of Ibaraki prefecture, which led to the formation of a large radioactive spot with a center in the city of Kashiwa (Pref. Chiba).
At the same time, Tokyo itself, as well as the neighboring Kanagawa Prefecture, which includes the second largest Japanese city of Yokohama, turned out to be practically untouched (in total, 22 million people live in these 2 prefectures). Only the administrative district of Katsushika in the east and the settlement of Okutama in the west are polluted in Tokyo Prefecture - both there and there the density of contamination with cesium-137 was from 30 to 60 kBq / m 2 (in the neighboring districts of Edogawa, Adachi and the village of Hinohara - from 10 up to 30 kBq/m 2). In Kanagawa Prefecture, there are no areas with such a density of pollution.
On October 10, the Ministry of the Environment of Japan published a draft, according to which it is planned to recognize as contaminated as a result of the Fukushima accident the territories where the average annual effective dose of radiation (AEDR) should be more than 1 millisievert (mSv).
The results of the monitoring showed that an area of at least 13 thousand km 2 in 8 prefectures of the country, which is approximately 3% of the total territory of Japan, was subjected to such pollution. Initially, the country's government planned to take responsibility for the decontamination of only those areas where the SHED exceeds 5 mSv, but under public pressure, it was forced to lower this bar to 1 mSv.
Units
Curiously, the bar of 1 mSv/year is also valid in relation to Chernobyl. In general, in the legislation of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine, since 1991, a norm has been fixed, according to which territories with pollution density were recognized as polluted 137 Cs over 1 Ci/km 2 , and the dose criterion based on an estimate of the average effective dose of radiation was practically not taken into account. On the other hand, the law of the Russian Federation adopted in 1991 "On the social protection of citizens exposed to radiation as a result of the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant" nevertheless stipulated that permissible and requiring no intervention is an additional (above the level of natural and man-made background radiation for a given area) exposure of the population from radioactive fallout as a result of the Chernobyl disaster, forming in 1991 and in subsequent years the average annual effective dose (AGED) not exceeding 1 mSv.
Let's decipher these units.
Average annual effective radiation dose(SGED) is measured in sieverts (Sv) and describes the effect of radiation on the entire human body. Based on the calculation of the Ministry of the Environment of Japan, an ADR of 1 millisievert (mSv) can be obtained with an average background radiation level of 0.19 microsievert per hour (µSv/h). If we talk about additional(relative to natural background) an annual dose of 1 mSv, then it can be obtained at 0.23 µSv/h (since the level of 0.04 µSv/h was considered natural background radiation in Japan before the accident).
For clarity, we will take the level of 0.2 µSv/h as the threshold value. Then, areas marked in bright blue (0.2-0.5 µSv/h) or warmer shades, indicating an even higher level of pollution, can be considered contaminated on the maps of group "A" (in the list of maps above).
The degree of impact of certain effective doses on the human body is presented in the following figure. It should be noted that conventional fluorography provides a dose of 50 µSv, and flying from Tokyo to New York and back is fraught with a dose of 200 µSv, or 0.2 mSv (i.e. one fifth of the annual allowable additional exposure) .
Rice. 2. Radiation in everyday life
Source: Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.
Off-system unit of activity Curie (Ci) , equal to 37 billion isotope decays per second, is currently used only in Russia and some CIS countries. In the SI system of units, commonly used abroad and, in particular, in Japan, a different activity value is adopted - Becquerel (Bq) . 1 Bq is equal to 1 disintegration per second. Accordingly, 1 Ci / km 2 is equal to 37,000 Bq / m 2 or 37 kBq / m 2.
Chernobyl zoning principle
At the initial stage of work to eliminate the consequences of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the main attention was paid to areas of radioactive contamination of the soil with 137 Cs at a level exceeding 15 Ci/km 2 (550 kBq/m 2). As the radiation situation clarified, the work area began to expand, and by 1991, when a regulatory framework was being created in the RSFSR, the Ukrainian and Belarusian SSR, regulating the issues of social protection of citizens living in contaminated territories, to the so-called. The "Chernobyl zone" included territories with 137 Cs contamination density over 1 Ci/km 2 (37 kBq/m 2) or SGED over 1 mSv.
Since the first criterion turned out to be much more stringent in practice, a significant number of territories with a pollution density from 1 to 5 Ci / km 2 were formed on the territory of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine, but SGED is less than 1 mSv - in Russia this is the so-called. zones with preferential socio-economic status, which, although they did not require special state intervention, were in fact also recognized contaminated territories .
Thus, if one follows the Chernobyl criteria, polluted on maps of group "D", with some assumption, it is possible to count all territories marked with non-brown shades (starting from pale green, indicating the density of caesium-137 pollution at the level of 30-60 kBq/m 2).
Further, according to the Chernobyl zoning principle, to zone of residence with the right to resettlement territories with soil contamination density of 137 Cs from 5 to 15 Ci/km 2 (185-555 kBq/m 2) or SGED over 1 mSv should be considered.
To resettlement zone include territories with 137 Cs pollution density over 15 Ci/km 2 (555 kBq/m 2), and at values above 40 Ci/km 2 (1480 kBq/m 2) or SGED over 5 mSv, the territory was recognized mandatory eviction zone .
Let us present the Chernobyl pollution map, compiled on the basis of the principle of territory zoning according to the density of soil contamination with 137 Cs.
Rice. 3. Density of soil surface contamination with caesium-137 after the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant
It should be noted that at the moment many scientists are criticizing the lower limit of pollution, set at the level of 1 Ci/km 2 , as well as the very principle of zoning the territory according to the density of soil contamination with 137 Cs. As IBRAE RAS specialists note, over time after the accident, the density of soil contamination is less and less related to radiation doses. In territories with different landscape and biogeochemical characteristics, doses can differ by hundreds or more times at the same density of soil contamination with 137 Cs.
In accordance with the current legislation of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine, more than 6.5 million people and over 145 thousand km 2 of territory are classified as "affected". As a result, the funds allocated for the payment of compensation to the victims were scattered among a huge number of people. At the same time, in less polluted regions, the total payments per dose unit turned out to be much higher than in more polluted ones. In addition, as a result of the measures taken, territories with levels of additional radiation exposure to the population below the level of exposure from natural background were legally classified as affected. As it turned out later, more than 30% of the territories contaminated with a density above 1 Ci/km 2 turned out to be outside the USSR, although no compensation for damage to health was ever paid there.
Thus, the significance of the Chernobyl zoning principles should not be exaggerated. It is possible that after Fukushima they will be revised, including at the international level. At the same time, the current tragedy at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant is only the second accident of this magnitude in the history of mankind, and world scientists simply do not have any other experience in overcoming such disasters, besides the Chernobyl one. In other words, until new standards are developed, those who live in potentially infected territories (or those who have relatives living there) have no choice but to analyze the data published by the Japanese government and compare them with those zones that exist in Chernobyl.
For a complete list of currently available maps or higher resolution maps, please visit the website of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. On the website of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, the same maps available interactively (NEW!), which allows you to zoom in and zoom on the point of interest (maps in Japanese, two formats are available: e-map and PDF).
(1) Map of group "A" (see the explanation of the groups at the beginning of the article), showing the radiation background at a height of 1 meter above the ground - allows you to estimate the average annual effective dose of radiation(recall that the radiation background of 0.19 µSv/h approximately corresponds to the SGED equal to 1 mSv);
(2) Group "D" map showing the density of soil contamination with caesium-137 - for comparison with Chernobyl zones;
(3) Group "C" map showing the density of soil contamination with cesium-134 and cesium 137 (sum over 2 isotopes) - these maps more adequately and more clearly show current level of pollution, but cannot be used for comparison with Chernobyl (the total contamination for 2 isotopes is higher than for one cesium-137, due to which the zones indicated on the maps look more colorful).
This article will be updated regularly as new maps for new prefectures are published by the government. To quickly jump to maps for the prefecture you are interested in, use the following links:
18 prefectures of Japan(data on October 13; hereinafter, the date of monitoring is indicated in brackets, not the date of publication)
Japan-1: background radiation
Japan-2: cesium-137
Japan-3: Cesium-134 + Cesium-137
80km-2: cesium-137
80 km-3: cesium-134 + cesium-137
Fukushima-1: background radiation
Fukushima-2: Cesium-137
Fukushima-3: Cesium-134 + Cesium-137
Miyagi-1: background radiation
Miyagi-2: Cesium-137
Miyagi-3: Cesium-134 + Cesium-137
Tochigi-1: background radiation
Tochigi-2: Cesium-137
Tochigi-3: Cesium-134 + Cesium-137
Ibaraki-1: background radiation
Ibaraki-2: Cesium-137
Ibaraki-3: Cesium-134 + Cesium-137
Yamagata-1: background radiation
Yamagata-2: Cesium-137
Yamagata-3: Cesium-134 + Cesium-137
Gumma-1: background radiation
Gumma-2: cesium-137
Gumma-3: Cesium-134 + Cesium-137
Saitama-1: background radiation
Fukushima, almost six years after the accident, continues to dump 300 tons of radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean every day. © FreeImages.com Content License
The active actions of the Japanese to stabilize the situation at nuclear power plants continued until the end of 2011 - three reactors were brought into a state of so-called cold shutdown. In December 2013, the nuclear power plant was closed.
I note that the nuclear disaster at Fukushima-1 was assigned the highest - seventh - level on the International Nuclear Event Scale. Like the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. From the 30-kilometer (still closed) zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, 116 thousand people were resettled to "clean places". From the zone of the Japanese radioactive disaster, almost a third more - 160 thousand.
According to The Japan Times newspaper, the previous maximum radiation was recorded at the downed reactor at 73 sieverts per hour, and it is also fatal to humans. Tepco said that recently “high levels of radiation have been detected near the reactor core vessel, which was previously thought to contain radioactive fuel. Such a high level of radiation suggests that some of the fuel has leaked."
Experts inevitably have a question: how do the Japanese get together with such unthinkable levels of radiation - a person can die even from a short-term exposure to these 530 sieverts per hour - to investigate the situation, to finally dismantle the three destroyed reactors? According to the staff of the Japanese National Institute of Radiological Sciences, doctors have never dealt with such a high level of radiation. According to the institute, just four sieverts of radiation can kill a person. Japanese experts say that even one sievert (1000 millisieverts, mSv) can lead to infertility, hair loss and cataracts, and exposure to doses above just 100 mSv increases the risk of cancer.
A small educational program for those who, since the time of the Chernobyl disaster, have been accustomed to assessing nuclear troubles in x-rays. One sievert is equal to 100 roentgens. A dose of three to five sieverts - the diagnosis of "acute radiation sickness" (ARS), bone marrow damage, death within 30-60 days. At 10-15 sieverts, death occurs in two to three weeks. This is what happened to the Soviet firefighters (they received, of course, much larger doses) during the extinguishing of the reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in April-May 1986. Instantaneous death or delayed for several days occurs when the body is damaged by more than 15 sieverts per hour. For comparison, now the Japanese reactor, which is about to be dismantled, has 530.
The newly emerged situation has further complicated the task of the Japanese nuclear scientists to decommission the destroyed reactors. The key question is how to remove the fuel at such levels of exposure? (It is known that the government and the company planned to do this in 2021, waiting for the “hellish” machines to cool down and radiation levels to fall.) In the coming weeks, it was planned to deploy remote-controlled work, that is, the use of robots, to check what is happening inside the reactor containment, but the company will most likely have to change its plan.
If no one even thinks about using people (it was only in the Soviet Union that people went to the feat, dropping graphite from the roof of the Chernobyl reactor with their bare hands, and in Japan there are no willing ones), then the bet on robots under newly discovered circumstances no longer causes local specialists are especially optimistic. Firstly, even for robots, the route will have to be reconsidered. In addition, given the extra-level of radiation, they will be able to work for less than two hours, Japanese nuclear scientists say. The thing is that even robots can withstand radiation no higher than 1000 sieverts per hour - they are designed with such technical capabilities. And if, based on a calculation of 73 sieverts, a controlled “assistant” would work (theoretically) for more than ten hours, then at the current 530 units it will “die” in less than two hours.
However, technical problems are just flowers. The “berries” of the Fukushima disaster are an ecological disaster for the World Ocean and its inhabitants, about which everyone has been stubbornly silent for almost six years now.
According to The Japan Times, “A black mass was found on a grate just below the reactor. The image taken by a remotely controlled camera shows that part of the grid is missing, and a two-meter hole has formed under the primary thermal shell of the reactor.” That is, the molten fuel has already come out. His real condition remains unknown, as the radiation is too high for a person to check. As Naohiro Masuda, head of the decommissioning of the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant, told the ABC broadcaster last year, the location of the uranium melt in the affected reactors has not yet been established. “In reactor No. 1, the fuel melted through the bottom of the reactor vessel and completely leaked out. In the 2nd and 3rd reactors, from 30 to 50% of the fuel remained, the rest was melted. Unfortunately, we do not know where this fuel is.” Looks like they finally found out.
In the subtleties and details of what this means for the environment - the outflow of molten uranium fuel - and what it threatens, neither the newspaper nor the electric company Tepco itself go into. Meanwhile, it is clear even to a non-specialist that another catastrophe has occurred: the destroyed reactor No. 2 of the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant is in contact with the Pacific Ocean, turning its waters into a radioactive solution pouring into the World Ocean.
Incessant repeated seismic shocks and new earthquakes caused a wave of panic among the already frightened Japanese. Residents of Japan are preparing for a radiation leak, the Prime Minister strongly recommends staying in homes, offices and shelters.
Ninety-one countries have already offered their assistance to Japan. In the cities destroyed by the disaster, the search for the dead, rescue operations and restoration work continue. The number of victims of the elements continues to grow, but some hopes are justified, and relatives and friends find each other.
(Total 52 photos)
1. Japanese evacuees are checked for radiation levels at a special center in Koriyama city, Fukushima prefecture, on March 15. (Wally Santana/Associated Press)
2. A child is tested for radiation levels in Nihonmatsu, Fukushima Prefecture. Tokyo has been gripped by a wave of panic after radiation levels rose in a radius of an earthquake-hit nuclear reactor in the north of the country, forcing many to leave the capital or stock up on food and emergency supplies. (Reuters/Kyodo)
3. On the radiation detector - 0.6 microsieverts, which exceeds the usual level of radiation. The picture was taken near the Shibuya train station in Tokyo. (Associated Press/Kyodo News)
4. An employee of the center in a protective suit helps people find their way to the center for scanning for radiation levels in Koriyama on March 15. (Mark Baker/Associated Press)
5. Workers in protective suits are escorted to the center for scanning people who find themselves within a radius of 20 km from the Fukushima nuclear reactor, where radiation leaked after the earthquake. The picture was taken in Koriyama City. (Gregory Bull/Associated Press)
6. Evacuated people are checked for radiation levels at a special center in Koriyama. (Wally Santana/Associated Press)
7. The queue for buses from the city in Yamagata in the prefecture of the same name. Explosions and a fire at a nuclear power plant in Fukushima prefecture caused a new wave of panic among the inhabitants of Japan. (Mike Clarke/AFP/Getty Images)
8. A woman walks out of a scanning center carrying an electrically heated blanket in Koriyama. (Gregory Bull/Associated Press)
9. Soldiers of the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Forces prepare to destroy radioactive materials after an explosion and leak at a nuclear reactor in Nihonmatsu, Fukushima Prefecture. (Associated Press/Kyodo News)
10. A group of Chinese waiting for transport to leave the city of Sendai destroyed by the tsunami in Miyagi Prefecture. On March 15, the Japanese government urged residents to hastily buy food and essentials. The country is trying to recover from the earthquake and tsunami amid a new threat - the danger of a nuclear catastrophe. (Mike Clarke/AFP/Getty Images)
11. Evacuated from the area of radiation leakage from the Fukushima plant to the shelter in Fukushima. (The Yomiuri Shimbun, Shuhei Yokoyama/Associated Press)
12. This woman has just learned that the body of her relative was recovered from the rubble of a building in Kesennum. (Associated Press/Kyodo News)
13. People wait for medical help in a shelter for the victims of Rikuzentakata, Iwate prefecture. (Lee Jae Won/Reuters)
14. Evacuated people listen to a report on the ongoing rescue work in a shelter in Minamisanriku, Miyagi Prefecture. (Shuji Kajiyama/Associated Press)
15. Older couples greeting each other. (Lee Jae Won/Reuters)
16. Refugees on rugs in the center for evacuees in Sendai. (Mike Clarke/Getty Images)
17. Family reunion for the first time since the earthquake in Rikuzentakata. (Lee Jae Won/Reuters)
18. Crush for overalls in a shelter for refugees in Fukushima. (Associated Press/The Yomiuri Shimbun, Shuhei Yokoyama)
19. Reunion of mother with children in the evacuation center in Rikuzentakata. (Masahiro Ogawa/Associated Press)
20. Charging in the evacuation center in Minamisanriku. (Associated/The Yomiuri Shimbun, Tsuyoshi Matsumoto)
21. Evacuated residents of Minasianriku dine on rations received in a center lit by lamps and candles. (Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP/Getty Images)
22. Empty store shelves in Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture. (Shizuo Kambayashi/Associated Press)
23. The Japanese filled the evacuation center in Fukushima. About 70,000 people within a 20 km radius of the nuclear reactor were evacuated. (Associated Press/The Yomiuri Shimbun, Koichi Nakamura)
24. A lone resident on a bicycle against the backdrop of devastation after the tsunami in the city of Minamisanriku. (David Guttenfelder/Associated Press)
25. Rescuers extinguish a burning building in Miyagi. Japan fears that the death toll could rise to 10,000. (ChinaFotoPress/Getty Images)
26. Consequences of the tsunami in the city of Sendai. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)
27. Rescuers leaning over the map before the start of the operation in Ofunato. Rescue teams from the US, UK and China joined their Japanese counterparts. (Nocholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images)
28. Members of the Chinese international search and rescue team in search of disaster victims in a destroyed house in Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture. (Associated Press/Xinhua, Lui Siu Wai)
29. Tired rescuers after a hard day in Sendai. (Associated Press/Junji Kurokawa)
30. A member of the British search and rescue team Rob Furniss with a dog named Byron are trying to find survivors under the rubble of a building in Ofunato. Two rescue teams from the US and one from the UK, with a total of 220 people, are combing areas of the city of Ofunato in search of survivors. (Matt Dunham/Associated Press)
31. A mother and daughter leave the ruined area of Otsuchi City. There is nothing left of their house. (Associated Press/The Yomiuri Shimbun, Yoichi Hayashi)
32. Soldiers and a rescuer carry the body of a resident through the ruins of the city of Kesennum on March 15. (Adrees Latif/Reuters)
33. The Sasaki family with things that they managed to take out of a house almost completely destroyed by an earthquake in the city of Rikuzentakata. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)
34. Five-year-old Neena Sasaki helps her parents carry things from a destroyed house in Rikuzentakata. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)
35. A Japanese soldier walks past bodies in the town of Rikuzentakata. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)
36. Family photo albums in the ruins of a house in Otsuchi. (Damir Sagolj/Reuters)
37. Rescuers search the ruins of the city of Otsuchi. (Aly Song/Reuters)
38. A girl looking for at least some of her things in the ruins of a house in Minamisanriku. (David Guttenfelder/Associated Press)
39. The terrible consequences of the tsunami in the city of Sendai. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)
40. Keiko Nakamura with his wife on the wreckage of the house of a deceased relative in Ofunato. The house was washed away by the tsunami. (Matt Dunham/Associated Press)43. A young man among the devastation in the city of Kesennuma on March 15. (Adrees Latif/Reuters)46. Earthquake and tsunami survivors under umbrellas in the ruined city of Minamisanriku. (Guttenfelder/Associated Press)49. Blanketed bodies of victims in the ruined town of Rikuzentakata. (Lee Jae-Won/Reuters)52. Members of the Japan Self-Defense Force during a rescue operation in the city of Ofunato. (Matt Dunham/Associated Press)
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The territory of the world-famous Japanese nuclear power plant Fukushima-1 from this month suddenly began to resemble an ordinary peaceful industrial zone, and not at all the scenery for filming a science fiction film about a terrible world after a nuclear war. Due to the steady drop in radiation levels over most of this vast area, the liquidators are now allowed to work in normal clothes - without the fedora of protective suits, respirators and double gloves. At the emergency nuclear power plant, which, as it seemed, would forever remain a death zone, now even a supermarket has opened with the same set of goods as throughout the country.
This, perhaps, has become one of the main good news for the very sad anniversary that Japan is celebrating this month. It has been five years since that nightmarish March 11, 2011, when a magnitude 9 earthquake struck off the northeast coast of the country's main island of Honshu, the most powerful in national history. My Tokyo home was about 400 kilometers from the epicenter, but dishes were broken in my apartment, books were thrown off the shelves in the office, and a sewer manhole cover was knocked out in the street.
I will never forget the ground that danced under my feet like the deck of a boat in a storm as we burst out of a creaking building.
disaster live
It was a nightmare in areas closer to the epicenter, but the earthquake itself did not cause significant harm - the Japanese learned how to prepare for such a scourge. The real horror came a little later: tsunami waves averaging 10-15 meters high hit the coast. In one place it even exceeded forty meters! Dense as concrete, masses of water cut off entire coastal villages and city blocks, gas stations exploded under their pressure, water knocked down defenseless cars from overpasses of highways and bridges. The disaster took place online - it was filmed and transmitted by television operators from helicopters: tens of millions of Japanese in shock saw the destruction of the country's northeast coast in real time on their TV screens.
More than 18.5 thousand people died or went missing - over 90 percent of them drowned. About 400 thousand houses were completely or partially destroyed, sea water flooded an area of more than 560 square meters. km, including the brand new airport of the large city of Sendai - people from its passenger terminal spent a very anxious time on the roof of the building in the midst of the spilled sea, waiting for help. . In the affected zone of almost continuous destruction, electricity was cut off, fresh water left the burst pipes. All enterprises stopped, which caused a temporary paralysis of industrial chains not only in the country, but almost all over the world, which, as it turned out, cannot live without Japanese goods, parts and assemblies. The direct damage from the disaster alone is now estimated at 25 trillion yen - almost $225 billion.
Prosperous Japan is faced with a problem forgotten since the Second World War - almost half a million refugees. People accustomed to comfort, good cosmetics and perfumery, and the highest level of hygiene have lost their roofs over their heads, property, and loved ones. Now they found themselves in overcrowded school gyms, in stadiums, in cold army tents - with a lack of even drinking water, with no bath and shower, often with sewerage not working. Seemingly pampered, the Japanese showed under these conditions restraint and civility that struck the world. They lined up in long disciplined lines for bottles of water and rice balls, in front of the military baths, without scandals and attempts to push away the weak.
In the devastated areas, there was practically no banditry and looting, even just skirmishes between people who had experienced monstrous nervous shocks.
In the first couple of days after March 11, it seemed that the worst was over, but a new trouble came, which had the boring industrial name "Fukushima-1". This nuclear power plant, located on the shore, had a protective wall in case of a tsunami, but it never occurred to anyone that the wave could rise 15 meters. Her impact disabled the power supply and cooling systems. A bunch of brave men, led by the director of the nuclear power plant, desperately tried to save the day, but lost. Live, in front of shocked viewers, hydrogen explosions occurred, accompanied by radiation emissions. At the same time, as is now known, nuclear fuel melted in three power units of the station that were left without cooling, which burned through the internal and external walls of the reactors. The level of radiation around the nuclear power plant went off scale, but within a radius of 20 km from it, fortunately, it was possible to safely resettle all the local residents who replenished the army of refugees.
Cesium, fish and leukemia
The town next to the Fukushima nuclear power plant was closed until recently. Now he came to life again / TASS
So five years have passed. The partial half-life of some radioactive isotopes emitted by the accident at nuclear power plants has already been recorded, active decontamination is underway in contaminated areas - as a rule, the top layer of soil is simply cut off there. As a result, the area of the forbidden zone shrinks rather quickly.
The Fukushima Prefectural Consumer Protection Organization recently announced that for the second year in a row it has not even found traces of radioactive substances in the food consumed by local residents. Including those living not so far from the closed zone of the emergency station. Activists of the organization, by random computer sampling, periodically select a hundred families in their home in Fukushima, who buy local vegetables and meat, use tap water.
For a certain time, these people prepare an extra portion of what they themselves eat for lunch or dinner for analysis. In previous years, the presence of, for example, cesium isotopes was recorded, although below the norm. Now, we repeat, for the second year - zero.
This was also shown by the analysis carried out by a larger public association, the Japan Council of Consumer Organizations. Its experts conducted a similar study of food in 19 prefectures around Fukushima, including Tokyo. The result is the same - zero presence of radioactive substances.
They were mixed and dissolved, including by the great ocean - even off the coast of Fukushima, fish with the presence of cesium isotopes have now ceased to be caught, which was a fairly common thing at first. The danger in this zone is now mainly represented only by shellfish - what lies at the bottom. The Japanese are gradually recovering from radiophobia - data released this month from an official survey showed that less than 14 percent of buyers in the country are still reluctant to buy vegetables and fruits grown in the same Fukushima. The prefecture's flagship store in central Tokyo, I can attest, is always full of shoppers willing to purchase provisions. Some even prefer it, because they believe that Fukushima products undergo particularly thorough safety and quality control.
In Japan, there are people who received radiation doses above the norm - these are almost 2 thousand liquidators, military and police officers who worked at the nuclear power plant or in the surrounding areas in the very first hot days of the accident. Last October, for the first time, authorities officially recognized a radioactive lesion as a possible cause of leukemia found in one of these people. He received the appropriate certificate and can count on solid compensation. While such a person, we repeat, one.
General examinations of the thyroid gland are carried out in all children of Fukushima without exception. A small group showed signs of cancer, but experts, including experts from the World Health Organization, believe that they have nothing to do with radiation.
Experts from the UN Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) previously concluded that the accident at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant did not practically increase the risk of cancer among the Japanese population.
The report of this organization stated that the level of exposure of the country's population is low and it is almost impossible to track its effect on the likelihood of cancer. According to UN experts, the total level of thyroid exposure among the inhabitants of Japan after the nuclear accident was 30 times less than the figure recorded after the Chernobyl disaster.
What to do with contaminated land?
Earthquake-affected houses near the nuclear power plant are being restored, residents are returning here / TASS
In the tsunami zone, all roads have been restored, including high-speed ones, rubble has been cleared, most of the almost 20 million tons of non-radioactive debris left after the disaster has been processed. Once filled to overflowing towns from temporary shield houses, where refugees were settled, are emptying. Some have already completely lost their inhabitants - they will be broken. Most of the victims have already found more comfortable housing, although not all. There are still thousands of elderly and poor people who have nowhere to go in temporary homes - this problem will have to be solved. By the way, there are still about 170 thousand people in the status of refugees in Japan, although many of them simply decided not to return to their native lands anymore and took root in other parts of Japan.
Many towns destroyed by the tsunami have not yet been fully restored - the public and the authorities have not yet decided whether they need to be rebuilt in their original place, at the edge of the ocean, or better moved to higher ground.
It is not at all clear what to do with the unimaginable number of bags of contaminated soil cut off in Fukushima Prefecture during decontamination. They are now lined with tall black plastic mountains along the highways of the district - so far only 2 percent of this weakly radioactive waste has been found to safely store.
On the territory of the nuclear power plant itself, about a thousand steel tanks accumulated, containing about 700 thousand tons of contaminated water, which was used to cool emergency reactors. It is also being deactivated, but the process is proceeding with technical difficulties and not as quickly as the Japanese would like. By the way, at least forty years are allotted for the complete dismantling of the station itself - no one yet knows what to do with the melted nuclear fuel, with the reactors themselves. So far, only 2 percent of the planned work to eliminate nuclear power plants has been completed.
In Japan, the government is scolded - the public believes that the authorities are too slow, inept, and with bureaucratic failures are carrying out restoration work. Yes, people say, no one died from exposure, but more than 2,000 refugees died in the evacuation, many believed to be from stress, drunkenness, loneliness, and a lack of prospects. This sad figure is known very well in Japan and is reminded of it to the authorities on every occasion.
Well, the government promises to improve: up to 90 percent of all work to restore settlements and infrastructure in the tsunami-affected northeast, according to the new plan just adopted, will be completed by April 2017. Including medical and psychological assistance to the victims, support for industry and agriculture, tourism development. For all this, about 57 billion dollars are expected to be allocated by 2020 - in addition to the many tens of billions that have already gone to overcome the consequences of the tsunami and the disaster called Fukushima.
