On March 11, 2011, as a result of a powerful earthquake and the ensuing tsunami at the Japanese nuclear power plant "Fukushima" there was a major disaster. The accident was assigned the seventh - the highest - hazard level. The whole world, with bated breath, eagerly caught the latest news from "Fukushima" … More than 6 years have passed since then. What is happening now around the nuclear power plant?
MOUTH TO LOCK
On July 9, 2013, the Japanese media spread the sad news: the former director of the Macao Yoshida nuclear power plant, who led the work to eliminate the accident, died of cancer. Officials in Tokyo rushed to issue a statement that they see no connection between Yoshida's death and radiation, but the inhabitants of the island are inexorable: the death of the former director directly depends on the high dose of radiation he received during emergency work.
The Japanese are a very patient people. They are accustomed to the whims of nature, each of them knows his place at work and never goes against the authorities, in humility and humility they bring up their children. But even the obedient inhabitants of the Land of the Rising Sun have a limit.
The Japanese want to know how destructive the radiation was during the nuclear power plant accident. In the fall of 2013, an independent Japanese newspaper published data according to which the disaster relief company forced workers, under threat of dismissal, to cover their personal storage dosimeters with lead plates.
Journalists speculate that this could have led to the workers receiving a huge dose of radiation. The Japanese Ministry of Health has launched an investigation into this case. Unofficial authorities still prefer to hide the true extent of the consequences from the population. Apparently, they are destructive to all living things that turned out to be in the infected zone.
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RABBIT WITHOUT EARS
More than two years after the accident, the boundaries of the exclusion zone approached the nuclear power plant by 3.5 kilometers. But people are in no hurry to populate empty villages and towns. Around "Fukushima" for 20-30 kilometers there are only ruins, destroyed houses, rusting cars and a lifeless desert overgrown with weeds. And this despite the fact that Japan has a terrible land shortage.
The level of radiation in areas where people are allowed to visit their homes varies everywhere. About 30 microsieverts per hour, that is, 100 times the norm. For 7 hours of work, a person can receive a one and a half month dose of radiation. There is no data on how this will affect health. But there are photographs and videos of mutants - plants and animals.
A YouTube user posted on the Web a plot of a rabbit born without ears. An Internet user registered in the city of Nami, located on the northwestern edge of the 30-kilometer exclusion zone, said the video was filmed at the home of a local resident.
According to the author of the video, looking at a deaf rabbit, it is easy to guess what consequences an accident at a nuclear power plant will have for people: small animals are more susceptible to such anomalies. Within a few days from the moment of publication on the Web, more than 375 thousand users managed to watch the video.
In turn, the official Japanese media criticized the author of the video. First, they pointed out, there is no evidence that the video was actually filmed in the vicinity of the nuclear power plant. Secondly, it is not known when the video was filmed. Finally, there are no other visible anomalies that usually result from mutation.
BUTTERFLY EFFECT
After this statement, the Japanese began to upload photos and videos of ugly plants and animals - the so-called children of "Fukushima" on the Internet. According to eyewitnesses, butterflies were the first to signal the trouble in the contaminated area. Scientists picked up 144 grass butterflies in the disaster area some time after the radiation leak.
After examining them, experts discovered the symptoms of genetic mutations that led to changes that were uncharacteristic for the species. Insects have significantly reduced wings in size, strange patterns appeared on them; antennae, on the contrary, have lengthened; incomprehensible depressions appeared in the eyes. But most of all specialists were upset by this tendency: at first, mutations appeared only in 12% of the selected butterflies. And after 6 months, deviations have already affected 28% of insects.
Herbal butterflies are considered a serious barometer for this family of insects, as they are present almost everywhere. And since their lifespan is short, it is not difficult to trace several generations at once. The result of the study is sad: with each new generation, the percentage of mutants increases.
However, scientists are in no hurry with unfavorable forecasts: the sensitivity of different types of living beings to radiation is different. And how radioactive exposure will affect other species, for example livestock, fish, no one knows yet.
MUTANTS COME
When it comes to plants, Japanese botanists are already sounding the alarm. In the areas adjacent to the nuclear power plant, gardeners and gardeners are gathering strange crops. Cabbage is close to the size of watermelons or pumpkin, and eggplants seem to be crossed with a banana - four or five fruits "stick" on one branch at once. Anomaly? Not that word!
Corn cobs are like Siamese twins, peaches - with elephant disease. In cucumbers, the leaves grow directly from the fruit, the same is observed in tomatoes. The sunflowers seem to be trying to split in two: from one "head" the second is born. This bizarre collection of fruits and vegetables was posted on a Korean website.
The Japanese are shocked: no doubt all the strange fruits are infected with radiation sickness. And no one knows what the consequences of eating these freaks-heroes can lead to. Many residents of the Land of the Rising Sun decided for themselves that in the coming years they will refrain from eating vegetables and fruits, but they will not earn other diseases for so long.
Fish is a separate topic. It is impossible to imagine the Japanese without traditional sushi and sashimi. And yet, in the near future, they will have to give up their favorite dishes. The radiation that got into the seawater as a result of the accident at the Japanese nuclear power plant "Fukushima" can seriously harm the ocean ecosystem, and at the same time cause various mutations in subsequent generations of marine life.
The level of radiation in seawater near the nuclear power plant raises serious concerns among environmentalists. The amount of radioactive iodine exceeded the permissible values by 3 355 times!
"There is the possibility of death for living organisms, but this is less of a concern than the possible consequences for their offspring," - said Joseph Rachlin, director of the research laboratory at Lehman College.
The main danger of radiation is that it can change the genetic code of animals and affect their reproduction.
… Meanwhile, some time ago, clouds of thick smoke rose over the third power unit of the station. Experts assured people that it was not smoke, but steam from rainwater. But this is unlikely to help calm the population - too much disturbing news has been coming from Fukushima lately. Elimination of the accident is progressing very slowly, and the radiation levels are still lethal.
At the same time, its emissions into the ocean continue. One of the latest disturbing news: the content of radioactive cesium was found in the groundwater under the nuclear power plant.
Author: Sergey SHAPOVALOV. Magazine "Another dimension" special issue # 4, 2017