All of the statements in this article are based on reliable sources and are reproduced at the end of this article
On March 11, 2011, Japan experienced the largest earthquake on record, which also caused the leakage of radioactive materials at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, making Fukushima a desolate purgatory on earth.
At the beginning of the nuclear disaster, pollutants piled up on the seashore, the streets of Fukushima were even more dilapidated, and many animals and plants were mutated.
So, how serious is this nuclear accident? What is Fukushima like today?
How harmful is the Fukushima nuclear leak
Fukushima Prefecture covers an area of 13,783 square kilometers, the third largest prefecture in Japan, more than 200 kilometers from Tokyo, and the 9.0 magnitude earthquake that struck in 2011 caused a series of equipment damage to the Fukushima nuclear power plant, melted down the core, and leaked a large amount of nuclear radiation.
At least 160,000 people have been displaced by the accident, and many "nuclear accident refugees" are still reluctant to return to Fukushima even more than a decade after the accident due to the effects of nuclear radiation and salinization caused by seawater intrusion.
At the beginning of the nuclear leak, the Japanese government began to collect and purify pollutants, and according to Xing Xiaojing, a reporter for the Global Times, a huge yard at the Fukushima nuclear power plant was filled with black plastic bags containing soil contaminated with nuclear radiation.
These pollutants contain a large amount of elements such as "cesium, strontium, cobalt, iodine", which accumulate in the human body and cause damage to the human body, and these substances are easily inhaled into the human body and enter the human body through the respiratory tract.
Japan's nuclear radiation has had a long-term impact on the surrounding ecological environment, with its radioactive materials causing the death of local plants and wildlife, and even some vegetation that has become extinct or on the verge of death.
Mutated flora and fauna around Fukushima
After the Fukushima nuclear power plant leaked, the surrounding flora and fauna have mutated to varying degrees, and researchers have tested DNA samples from the Fukushima nuclear accident area and the surrounding wildlife, and found that many of the plants and animals have been mutated.
Mutated eggplant
According to a 2015 report by China News Network, the family of Masami Yoshizawa, a farmer in Fukushima Prefecture, found unidentified white spots on a cow that had never appeared on it before the nuclear power plant leaked.
After learning of this, the Japanese government directly ordered "all cattle to be killed immediately", and Yoshizawa Masami had no choice but to watch his hard-earned cattle being killed.
White spots develop on cattle
In the same year, Japanese fisherman Hirasaka caught an astonishing giant wolffish in the waters near the Fukushima nuclear power plant, which was larger and more ferocious than the average wolffish.
Mutated wolffish
The average wolffish grows to about 1 meter, and this wolffish looks as tall as a human.
Researchers from the University of the Ryukyus collected a total of 144 adult butterflies in 10 places in Japan, including the Fukushima region.
Mutated butterflies
When the nuclear crisis occurs, these adult butterflies are still in a state of overwintering larvae, and because they eat contaminated food, these butterflies pass on the mutant gene to the next generation, which eventually leads to the occurrence of genetic mutations.
In addition to the effects of animal mutation, plants are not immune, and according to a report on "Plant Growth in Disaster-stricken Areas" published by the National Institute of Radiation Medicine in Japan, 98% of cedar trees in nuclear-stricken areas have no buds, and branches and trunks grow vertically.
In addition to animal mutation, plants have also mutated, and in 2013 there were many strange-shaped crops in Japan, such as a large tomato growing a lot of small tomatoes, and the persimmon looks like a malignant tumor.
Mutated tomatoes
There are also potatoes that look like the soles of a child's feet, and like mutant tomatoes, they all have a lot of small fruits growing on the same fruit, and people with dense phobia or obsessive-compulsive disorder will feel very uncomfortable when they see it.
Mutated potatoes
Pollutants are piling up
After the Fukushima nuclear power plant leaked, the Japanese government sent more than 20,000 workers to the radiation area to clean up the area, and the contaminated soil and roof dust were packed into bags and placed in a special place where the pollutants were stacked, and these black plastic bags were also piled up.
The contaminated soil is packed into black plastic bags
The Japanese government has ordered a no-go zone within 20 kilometers of the nuclear power plant because the soil contains "cesium", the main radioactive material of the nuclear leakage, and is concentrated within 5 centimeters of the surface layer of the soil.
For this reason, the Japanese government has removed all five centimeters of contaminated soil and transported it to remote areas far from life and production, but with the continuous improvement of decontamination technology, the radiation concentration of contaminated soil can be further reduced.
The government has also used the soil for public relations projects, but there has been strong opposition from the public, and the Japanese government has pledged to remove all contaminated soil from Fukushima by March 2045.
It is not easy to find a place to store these nuclear-contaminated soils, and if these soils are transported to mountains or forests, there is a high risk of serious "secondary pollution", but if they are discharged directly into the sea, they will inevitably arouse opposition from the international community.
It can be seen that what to do with the contaminated soil has become a thorny issue, but the most difficult issue is not the nuclear-contaminated soil, but the livelihood of the people of Fukushima.
For example, in the village of Ikan, 30 kilometers northwest of the Fukushima nuclear power plant, the Japanese government lifted the evacuation order as early as 2017 to allow residents to return to live, but most residents are reluctant to return.
They are reluctant to return mainly because they are concerned about the residual radioactive effects and they want to receive government subsidies because of the impact of the incident on local fisheries and agriculture.
On June 17 this year, the victims of the Fukushima nuclear accident and related groups gathered outside the Supreme Court of Japan, which two years ago ruled that the Japanese government was not liable for compensation in four class action lawsuits filed by the Fukushima victims and other plaintiffs.
Source: CCTV News 2024-06-18
According to statistics, about 470,000 residents of Fukushima and surrounding areas were forced to evacuate within days of the accident, and more than 26,000 people have not been able to return to their hometowns today.
The Japanese government has also provided very little subsidies to the victims, and their actions have also chilled countless people, although more than 600,000 people were affected by the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986, and although it has been decades, it will take 10,000 years to fully recover to suitable human activities.
However, the Soviet government's approach to the nuclear leak is commendable, while the Japanese government's approach is diametrically opposed.
The dangers of Japan's discharge of nuclear-contaminated water
The Fukushima nuclear power plant also produces a large amount of nuclear-contaminated water, mainly because the nuclear reactor needs to be cooled by water injection, and even after a nuclear leak, new water will still be injected for cooling, and as early as 2023, the nuclear-contaminated water in the nuclear power plant is close to saturation.
TEPCO said that there is no more vacant land to build water storage tanks at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, and that they are worried that if an earthquake occurs, it will leak the contaminated water.
The first batch of wastewater tanks were already rusted and would be a big expense to replace, and they didn't want to bear the cost, so Japan started a plan to discharge the nuclear-contaminated water into the sea.
On April 13, 2021, Japan officially decided to discharge the Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water into the sea, and on August 22, 2023, Japan decided to start discharging the Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water into the sea from August 24, and it is planned to continue for 30 years.
The damage caused by the Fukushima nuclear leak is huge, and Japan can end the accident in a more environmentally friendly way, but they choose to discharge nuclear-contaminated water, the sea is the common wealth of mankind, and the mistakes they have made are borne by all mankind.
Although they repeatedly claim that the nuclear-contaminated water is purified, it still contains a high concentration of radioactive "tritium", an element that is difficult to purify, and when discharged into the sea, it will produce strong rays that can affect fish, birds, plankton and so on.
In the face of so many dead fish, Japanese officials explained that "these fish died from lack of oxygen, and they had nothing to do with the discharge of contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant."
In addition to the impact on the fishing industry, Japanese vegetables and fruits have also been affected by the accident, and many stores in Hokkaido, Japan, have indicated the origin of vegetables and fruits, a phenomenon that did not exist before the Fukushima nuclear power plant leak.
This is done in order to better let customers understand that these vegetables and fruits do not come from the place where the nuclear leak occurred, and many customers will deliberately ask the source of the goods when buying goods.
The heavily polluted area of the nuclear accident is no longer inhabited by humans, and it has become a paradise for animals, and the natural ecology of Fukushima has been restored, and the number of wild animals is increasing, and the living space is also increasing.
The number of residents of Fukushima in Japan is decreasing, from 2.02 million in 2011 to 1.77 million in 2023.
summary
In the face of the nuclear accident, it is necessary to jointly maintain the security and stability of the global environment by strengthening technology research and development, strengthening supervision and management, strengthening public participation and information transparency.
References
China News Network2015-10-10 "The media said that the Fukushima disaster area has strong radiation and many anomalies, and the cattle grow white spots and the trees do not give birth"
2015-09-17 "Japanese fishermen caught strange fish near Fukushima to raise concerns about biological mutation"
Xinhuanet2023-09-26People's Daily (Global Times) Xing Xiaojing: 6 Years and 6 Years of Me and Fukushima
China Broadcasting Network2013-08-18 "Mutant Plants Appear in Japan After Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Nuclear Leak"
Time Magazine2023-09-12 "4,567 Days After the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster: Population Decreased by 250,000, Sales of "Fukushima Specialties" Recovered to Seven or Eighty Percent"
#长文创作激励计划#