Share:
Fukushima life on the edge of a disaster area
Five years after the Fukushima disaster, the area of the former nuclear power plant continues to be a dangerous disaster area and workers are only at the beginning of the complex and risky task of locating the fuel, reports the journal "Science". Although some evacuees have already been able to return to their homes, they will live for decades adjacent to a contaminated disaster zone.
Workers are making progress in cleaning up the contaminated land surrounding the Fukushima reactor and some evacuees would like to return to their sealed homes. But the cleanup is far from complete and radiation is still being released. This raises the question for returnees which radiation exposure is detrimental. Also, they have to get used to a life adjacent to a contaminated disaster area, since the location of the molten fuel has just begun and remains to find out how it can be removed.
In Fukushima, radiation exposure is increased five years after the disaster and radioactive contamination of groundwater is a growing problem. (Image: lassedesignen / fotolia.com) 150,000 people evacuated
After a 9.0-magnitude earthquake and a 40-meter tsunami hit northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011, nuclear reactors in several reactors at the Fukushima nuclear power plant had undergone massive radioactivity release. 150,000 people were evacuated from the vicinity of 20 kilometers around the nuclear power plant and from the areas that were also heavily affected by the radioactive fallout. "Now the nuclear refugees face a dilemma: How much radiation in their former homes is safe?", According to the journal "Science".
Nine million cubic meters of contaminated soil removed
Since the disaster, the authorities have made enormous efforts to reduce external radiation exposure to 0.23 microsieverts per hour in the irradiated areas. Around 9 million cubic meters of contaminated soil have been removed, buildings and streets washed, reports "Science". Finally, in September last year, the government began to partially or fully lift the evacuation of seven communities within 20 kilometers of the facility. As the work progresses, the authorities estimate that a total of 70 percent of the evacuees will be able to return home by spring 2017.
Returnees fear for their safety
Although some evacuees are quite pleased to return to their old house. But many are in doubt about security and claim that the government forces them to go home, even though the radiation levels are still too high. Katsunobu Sakurai, the mayor of the affected community Minamisoma, explains in the "Science" article that it is difficult for many people "to make the decision to return without knowing what that radiation means and what is safe." Also Some groups of citizens complain that the national government and the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO, owners of the Fukushima plant) are pursuing plans to end the compensation payments for those who choose not to return home.
Strained water is a growing problem
Recently, TEPCO plant manager Akira Ono has told the press that conditions at the plant are "truly stable" and that radioactivity and heat from nuclear fuel have declined significantly over the past five years. But the location of the fuel is only at the beginning. However, according to Ono, the biggest challenge currently remains contaminated water. Because it is continuously poured cooling water over the molten cores of the units 1, 2 and 3, in order to protect the fuel from overheating and re-melting. This water runs into the cellars of the buildings, where it mixes with the groundwater. In order to reduce the amount of contaminated water that subsequently seeps into the ocean, this is stored in 10-meter-high steel tanks, which are located on almost every corner of the area and contain about 750,000 tons of water. Currently, the government is testing experimental techniques for water purification. Ono emphasizes that a solution is urgently needed here as the capacity to catch water is limited. As the external exposure to radiation gradually decreases, the radioactive pollution of groundwater is therefore a growing problem. (Fp)