In 2011, on March 11, Japan suffered its worst radiation accident at the Fukushima 1 nuclear power plant, as a result of an earthquake and subsequent tsunami.
The center of this environmental disaster was located 70 km away. east of the island of Honshu. After terrible earthquake a tsunami of 9.1 followed, which raised ocean waters 40 m up. This disaster horrified both the people of Japan and the whole world; the scale and consequences are simply terrifying.
Against the backdrop of this tragedy, people, even in distant Germany, bought dosimeters, gauze bandages and tried to “protect themselves” from the radiation consequences of the Fukushima accident. People were in a state of panic, and not only in Japan. Regarding the company itself, which owns the Fukushima 1 nuclear power plant, it suffered colossal 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 last century, Japan began to pay more and more attention nuclear energy, thereby planning to gain independence from energy imports or at least reduce them. The country began to increase economic development, and the consequence is construction 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. twentieth century there were situations that were kept secret, learned about them only after radiation accident in the country 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 back in the spring of 1971. Over the next 8 years, five more power units were added.
In general, during the construction of nuclear power plants, all disasters were taken into account, including the earthquake that occurred in 2011. But on March 11, 2011, there were not only vibrations 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 strongest earthquake and it became main reason disasters of such a huge scale, such gigantic destruction and maimed 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 1 nuclear power plant. This disaster was eventually recognized as the second largest in the history of mankind.
The territory that was allocated for the construction of a 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. This location can be considered strange: “Why was it necessary to build a nuclear power plant near the water? After all, their country is susceptible to disasters such as tsunamis.” What happened on that terrible day that changed the lives of not only people, but also 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 in working order. In reactors 4-6, fuel assemblies were replaced according to plan. As soon as the tremors 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 was suspended. However, it was restored with the help of backup diesel generators, designed specifically for such cases; they were located at the lower level of the Fukushima 1 nuclear power plant, and the reactors began to cool. And at this time, a wave 15-17 m high covered the nuclear power plant, breaking the dam: the territory of the nuclear power plant is flooded, including the lower levels, diesel generators stop working, and then the pumps that cooled the stopped power units stop - all this served to increase the pressure in the reactors , which they first tried to throw into the thermal shell, but after complete collapse, in atmosphere. At this point, hydrogen penetrates simultaneously with steam into the reactor, leading to radiation emission.
Over the next four days, the Fukushima 1 accident was accompanied by explosions: first in power unit 1, then 3 and ultimately in 2, resulting in the destruction of the reactor vessels. These explosions resulted in the release of higher levels of radiation from the station.
EMERGENCY ELIMINATION
There were 200 volunteer liquidators, but the main and terrible part was carried out by 50 of them; they were nicknamed “atomic samurai.”
Workers tried to somehow cope with or reduce the scale of the disaster; they sought to cool the three cores by pumping boric acid and sea water into them.
Since attempts to resolve the problem have had no effect desired result, radiation levels increased, the authorities decided to warn about the dangers of consuming water and food sources.
After some success, namely the slow release of radiation, on April 6, the nuclear plant management announced that the cracks were sealed, and later began pumping irradiated water into storage for proper treatment.
During the liquidation of the accident there were no casualties.
Evacuation
Explosion at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. The authorities were afraid radiation exposure residents and therefore created a no-flight zone - thirty kilometers long, the area was 20,000 km. around the station.
As a result, approximately 47,000 residents were evacuated. On April 12, 2011, the nuclear severity level increased emergency from 5 to 7 (most high score, the same was 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 area of the disaster was declared uninhabitable for more than one decade.
Accident on nuclear power plant Fukushima in Japan became a huge disaster for thousands of people, claiming their lives. The territory of the station and its surroundings are charged, including radiation elements found in drinking water, milk and many other products, in sea water and in the soil. Also increased background radiation and 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 fell by 80% and it needs to pay compensation to 80,000 people - that's about 130 billion. US dollars.
It will take Japan about 40 years to completely solve the problem with the Fukushima nuclear power plant.
In March 2011, as a result of the strongest earthquake and tsunami in Japanese history, a major radiation accident occurred at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant: about half a million people were forced to leave their homes, and thousands of square kilometers of land became uninhabitable. Anton Ptushkin visited Fukushima and told why it is not like Ukrainian Chernobyl and what the phenomenon of the exclusion zone is.
I have been to the Chernobyl zone three times. Two tourist trips were not enough to fully appreciate the local atmosphere, and the third time I got there illegally - as part of a stalker group. When you find yourself in a territory isolated from the outside world, where there are only abandoned villages, wild animals and radiation around, you experience a sensation completely unlike anything else. Until a certain time, it seemed to me that this could only be felt in Chernobyl. But this May, I visited Fukushima, a Japanese prefecture that was hit by a radiation accident in 2011.
Chernobyl and Fukushima are unique to a certain extent. These are two small pieces of land from which man was expelled as a result of his own creation. The so-called exclusion zones formed as a result of accidents are a metaphor for the whole technical revolution. Humanity has been predicted more than once to die from its own inventions; the exclusion zone is a micromodel of such a scenario.
As a result of the disasters in Chernobyl and Fukushima, more than half a million people were forced to leave their homes, and thousands of square kilometers of territory were left uninhabitable for many years to come. This, however, did not prevent the Chernobyl zone from becoming an object of pilgrimage for tourists from all over the world: tens of thousands of people visit it every year. Tour operators offer several routes to choose from, including even helicopter excursions. Fukushima in this regard is practically terra incognita. Not only is there no tourism here, it’s difficult to find even basic official information about routes and cities into which entry is permitted.
In fact, I based my entire trip on the correspondence of two Americans on the Tripadvisor website, one of whom claimed that he had no problems traveling to the town of Tomioka, 10 km from the emergency nuclear power plant. Arriving in Japan, I rented a car and headed to this city. The first thing you notice about Fukushima is that it is not as abandoned as it might seem at first glance. There are people here, private cars and even regular buses. The latter was a complete surprise to me; I was used to the fact that the zone is a completely closed area.
In order to enter the 30-kilometer zone near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, for example, written permission is required. Naturally, I did not have any written permission in Japan. I didn’t even know how far I would be able to drive, and I kept expecting that I was about to run into a police checkpoint who would turn the car around. And only after several tens of kilometers it became clear that the Japanese had not blocked the highway for traffic, and it ran right through the zone, and quite close to the emergency nuclear power plant - the station’s pipes were visible right from the road. I am still surprised by this decision, which was certainly forced. In some sections of the route, even in a closed car, the background exceeded 400 µR/h (with the norm being up to 30).
The Japanese divided their zone into three parts by color: from red, the most polluted, where people were forcibly resettled, to green, which is relatively clean. It is prohibited to be in the red zone - the police are monitoring this. In yellow and green, stay is allowed only during daylight hours. Territories included in green zone, - potential candidates for settlement in the near future.
Land in Japan is a very expensive resource, so the map of the Japanese exclusion zone is not static: its boundaries are revised every year. The boundaries of the Chernobyl zone have not changed since 1986, although the background in most of it is normal. For comparison: about a third of all lands that were once part of the Belarusian exclusion zone (the territory of the Gomel region) were transferred to economic use 5 years ago.
During the five days of our trip to Chernobyl, I only had to worry twice while looking at the dosimeter. The first time was when we decided to take a shortcut through the forest and made our way for 30 minutes through dense thickets with a background of 2500 microR/h. The second was when I went down to the notorious basement of medical unit No. 126 in Pripyat, in one of the rooms of which the belongings of the firefighters who extinguished the block on April 26, 1986 are still kept. But these are two special cases, the rest of the time the background was the same as in Kyiv - 10-15 microR/h. The main reason for this is time. Strontium and cesium are the most common radioactive isotopes, which contaminated the area, have a half-life of 30 years. This means that the activity of these elements has already halved since the accident.
Fukushima is still only at the beginning of this path. In the cities of the red, dirtiest zone, there are many “fresh” spots, and they are all quite radioactive. The highest background that I was able to measure there was 4200 microR/h. This is how the soil was saturated two kilometers from the nuclear power plant. It is dangerous to leave the road in such places, but I think if I had walked a couple of meters further, the background would have been several times higher.
Radiation can be fought. Since the Chernobyl accident, humanity has not come up with a better way to combat contamination of the area than to remove upper layer soil and bury it. This is exactly what they did with the notorious “Red Forest” - a site coniferous forest not far from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which took the first blow of the cloud from the destroyed reactor. Due to the most powerful doses of radiation, the trees turned red and died almost immediately. Now there are only a few dry trunks in this place: in 1986 the forest was cut down and the soil was taken to a burial ground.
In Japan, the top contaminated layer of soil is also removed, but not buried, but collected in special bags and stored. In the Fukushima zone there are entire fields of such bags with radioactive soil - tens, maybe even hundreds of thousands. 5 years have passed since the Japanese accident, but it still has not been localized. It will be possible to talk about installing any sarcophagi over the blocks no earlier than 2020 - until the radiation fields near the nuclear power plant do not allow people to work there. Even the robots that the Japanese send to clear the rubble “die” more often than the heroes of “Game of Thrones” - their electronic “stuffing” simply cannot stand it.
To cool the emergency reactors, 300 tons of water are pumped into the cores every day. Leaks of such highly radioactive water into the ocean occur regularly, and radioactive particles from cracks in the buildings they enter groundwater. To prevent this process, the Japanese are installing soil freezing systems, which will be cooled by pipes with liquid nitrogen.
For five years now, the situation with Fukushima has resembled a serious wound that is being treated with poultices. The problem is that there was one emergency reactor in Chernobyl, and there are three in Fukushima. And we should not forget that the time of kamikazes has long passed: no one wants to die, even as a hero. When a Japanese worker reaches a certain dose, he is removed from the radiation danger zone. With this frequency of rotation, more than 130,000 people have already passed through Fukushima, and the problems with new personnel are becoming increasingly felt. It is becoming clear that Japan is in no hurry to solve the problems of Fukushima by overexposing its personnel, and is simply waiting for the background to decrease over time.
After the Chernobyl accident, the sarcophagus over the fourth power unit was built in six months. That's fantastic fast decision such a difficult task. This goal could only be achieved at the cost of the health and lives of thousands of people. For example, to clear the roof of the fourth reactor, so-called “biorobots” were brought in - conscript soldiers who scattered pieces of graphite and fuel assemblies with shovels. For the USSR, liquidation of the accident was primarily a matter of prestige, therefore, to combat the peaceful atom that had gotten out of control, the country spared no resources - neither material nor human. There is still a saying among the liquidators of the Chernobyl accident: “Only in a country like the USSR could a Chernobyl tragedy. And only a country like the USSR could cope with it.”
Time stop
Radiation has one unusual property: it stops time. It is enough to visit Pripyat once to feel it. The city is frozen in the socialist landscape of the 80s: rusty Soviet signs, rickety Soda water machines and a miraculously surviving phone booth at one of the intersections. In Fukushima cities, this temporal contrast is practically not felt, because Chernobyl turned 30 this year, and Fukushima is only 5. By this logic, in a few decades, Japanese villages in the notorious prefecture can become an authentic museum of their era. Because here almost everything remains in its place. The safety of things sometimes simply amazes the imagination.
If looting took place here, it was only in isolated cases and was immediately stopped by the authorities, who established cosmic fines for the removal of any things and objects from the contaminated territory. The cultural side of the Japanese, of course, also played a role.
Pripyat was less fortunate in the matter of preserving historical sites. After the accident, it ended up in the hands of looters, who piece by piece stole everything that was of any material value: things, equipment. Even cast iron batteries were cut out and removed from the zone. There is practically nothing left in the Pripyat apartments except large-sized furniture - everything was removed long ago.
The process of theft continues to this day. According to the stories of stalkers, groups engaged in illegal mining and export of metal are still working in the zone. Even contaminated equipment that was directly involved in the liquidation of the accident and posed a threat to human health was stolen. The burial grounds of such equipment produce a pitiful sight: mangled cars with torn out engines, rusty fuselages of helicopters with stolen electronic equipment. The fate of this metal, as well as the people who exported it, is unknown to anyone.
In Chernobyl, in addition to the radiation itself main danger there was police. Falling into the hands of the police guarding the zone meant ending your trip ahead of schedule and getting acquainted with the Chernobyl regional department, and in the worst case, also saying goodbye to some of the things from your backpack (dosimeters and other equipment were taken away from fellow stalkers during the arrest). A dangerous episode happened to us only once: at night in the dark we almost stumbled upon a checkpoint, but a few meters away we heard voices and managed to bypass it.
In Fukushima, I still had to meet the police. They stopped me a few kilometers from the nuclear power plant and asked who I was and what I was doing here. After a short story about how I am from Ukraine and writing an article about the Chernobyl and Fukushima exclusion zones, the police twirled my dosimeter in their hands with interest (I had a bright yellow Ukrainian Terra-P), copied my passport and license, and took a photograph of me just in case, they let me go. Everything is very respectful and tactful, in the spirit of the Japanese.
Nature
The common feature of Fukushima and Chernobyl is the absolute, triumphant victory of nature. The central street of Pripyat now resembles an Amazonian jungle more than a once bustling city artery. Greenery is everywhere, even the strong Soviet asphalt is broken through by tree roots. If the plants do not start to be cut down, then in 20-30 years the city will be completely absorbed by the forest. Pripyat is a living demonstration of the duel between man and nature, which man inexorably loses.
The tragedy at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and the subsequent resettlement of residents had a rather positive impact on the state of the fauna in the zone. Now it is a nature reserve, which is home to a significant part of the animals from the Red Book of Ukraine - from black storks and lynxes to Przewalski's horses. Animals feel like masters of this territory. Many areas in Pripyat, for example, are pitted with wild boars, and our guide showed a photograph in which a huge elk calmly stands in front of the entrance to the entrance of a nine-story Pripyat building.
Atmosphere
The atmosphere of abandoned cities can easily lead to a state of slight numbness. And if in Pripyat, where most of the buildings are in a deplorable state (entry into them is also prohibited, but not because of looting, but for security reasons), this is not felt so much, then in Fukushima, with its clean streets, abandoned equipment and residential-looking houses, a state of mild paranoia periodically visits the mind.
Another feature of Fukushima is that many directions and entrances are blocked. You see the road, you see the street and the buildings behind it, but getting there is difficult to convey all the impressions of the exclusion zone. Most of of which - on emotional level, That's why the best way A visit to, for example, the Chernobyl zone will help me understand. The excursion is relatively inexpensive (about $30) and absolutely safe. I would not recommend delaying it, since in the near future there may be nothing left to see in Chernobyl. Almost all buildings in Pripyat are in disrepair, some of them are being destroyed literally before our eyes. Time has not been kind to other artifacts of that era. Tourists also add their contribution to this process.
One of the highlights of my time in Fukushima was my first hour in the zone. Trying to see as much as possible, I moved exclusively by running and got out to coastal zone, which was hit hardest by the tsunami in 2011. There are still destroyed houses here, and heavy equipment is strengthening the coastline with concrete blocks. As I stopped to catch my breath, the city's public address system suddenly turned on. Dozens of speakers located with different sides, creating a strange echo, they began to speak Japanese in unison. I don’t know what that voice was saying, but I just froze in place.
There was not a soul around, only the wind and an alarming echo with an incomprehensible message. Then it seemed to me that for a second I felt what the residents of the Japanese prefecture felt in March 2011, when the same speakers were broadcasting about the approaching tsunami.
It is difficult to convey all the impressions from the exclusion zone. Most of them are on an emotional level, so the best way to understand me would be to visit, for example, the Chernobyl zone. The excursion is relatively inexpensive (about $30) and absolutely safe. I would not recommend delaying it, since in the near future there may be nothing left to see in Chernobyl. Almost all buildings in Pripyat are in disrepair, some of them are being destroyed literally before our eyes. Time has not been kind to other artifacts of that era. Tourists also add their contribution to this process.
And if Chernobyl, it seems, will forever remain a deserted monument to one of the largest man-made disasters in world history, the Fukushima cities - Tomioka, Futaba and others - look as if they are still waiting for the return of residents who left their homes 5 years ago. And it is quite possible that this will happen.
We offer you maps radioactive contamination Japan as a result of the accident at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant for individual prefectures of the country and an attempt to answer the question that worries 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!(Remember that there are 47 prefectures in Japan).
Maps for the last 6 prefectures (in bold) were published on November 11. The government is now working to refine maps for the capital region and further compile maps for other prefectures in the country.
All original maps (on Japanese) are available on the ministry website available in interactive form (NEW!)
The most important maps for individual prefectures are presented at the end of this article.
All maps are compiled based on the results of radiation monitoring carried out using helicopters and airplanes, taking into account data obtained directly on the surface of the earth.
(A) radiation background 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 the 134 Cs isotope
(D) density of soil contamination with the 137 Cs isotope.
Note that the half-life of cesium-134 is 2 years, while cesium-137 is 30 years. IN currently the population of contaminated areas fully experiences negative impact both isotopes, however, when comparing with the Chernobyl experience, 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 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, Chernobyl pollution maps for the 134th cesium isotope are virtually absent.
Fortunately, in the first days after the accident, largely due to the wind rose existing 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 14th to 15th and (ii) on the evening of March 21st - early morning of March 22nd - the radioactive cloud still covered the prefectures of the island of Honshu.
The figure on the right shows the density of soil contamination with cesium-134 and cesium-137 (the sum of the two isotopes). Pale orange indicates areas with a pollution density of 30 to 60 kBq/m2, orange - from 60 to 600 kBq/m2.
As can be seen from the figure, if the first cloud (blue arrow) led to the fall radioactive substances in Tochigi and Gunma prefectures, the second cloud (green arrow) moved south along the edge of the ocean and came ashore in the southern part of Ibaraki Prefecture, which led to the formation of a large radioactive spot centered in the city of Kashiwa (Chiba Prefecture).
At the same time, Tokyo itself, as well as the neighboring Kanagawa Prefecture, which includes the second largest Japanese city Yokohama turned out to be practically untouched (in total, 22 million people live in these 2 prefectures). The only polluted areas in Tokyo Prefecture are administrative district Katsushika in the east and locality Okutama in the west - in both places the density of cesium-137 contamination ranged from 30 to 60 kBq/m2 (in the neighboring areas of Edogawa, Adachi and the village of Hinohara - from 10 to 30 kBq/m2). There are no areas with such pollution density in Kanagawa Prefecture.
On October 10, the Japanese Ministry of Environment published a draft according to which it is planned to recognize territories where the average annual effective radiation dose (AEDD) should be more than 1 millisievert (mSv) as contaminated as a result of the Fukushima accident.
The results of the monitoring showed that an area of at least 13 thousand km 2 in 8 prefectures of the country was exposed to such pollution, which is approximately 3% of common territory Japan. Initially, the government of the country planned to take responsibility for the decontamination of only those areas where the SGED exceeds 5 mSv, but under public pressure it was forced to lower this level to 1 mSv.
Units
Curiously, the 1 mSv/year limit also applies to Chernobyl. In general, in the legislation of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine, since 1991, a norm has been established according to which Territories with a density of pollution were considered contaminated 137 Cs over 1 Ci/km 2 , and the dose criterion, based on an estimate of the average effective radiation dose, was practically not taken into account. On the other hand, the Russian Federation Law “On the social protection of citizens exposed to radiation as a result of a disaster”, adopted in 1991 Chernobyl nuclear power plant"still stipulated that acceptable and not requiring intervention is the additional (above the level of natural and man-made radiation background 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 an average annual effective dose (AEDD) 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 calculations by the Japanese Ministry of Environment, an SGED 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(towards natural background) annual dose equal to 1 mSv, then it can be obtained at 0.23 μSv/h (since the natural background radiation in Japan before the accident was considered to be 0.04 μSv/h).
For clarity, we will take a level of 0.2 μSv/h as a threshold value. Then, territories marked in bright blue (0.2-0.5 µSv/h) or warmer shades, indicating more higher level pollution.
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 a plane flight from Tokyo to New York and back is fraught with receiving 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: Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan.
Non-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, widely used abroad and, in particular, in Japan, a different value of activity is adopted - Becquerel (Bq) . 1 Bq is equal to 1 decay per second. Accordingly, 1 Ci/km2 is equal to 37,000 Bq/m2 or 37 kBq/m2.
Chernobyl zoning principle
On initial stage Work to eliminate the consequences of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant focused on areas of radioactive soil contamination with 137 Cs at a level exceeding 15 Ci/km 2 (550 kBq/m 2). As the radiation situation became more precise, the work area began to expand, and by 1991, when a normative base regulating the issues of social protection of citizens living in contaminated areas, to the so-called. " Chernobyl zone" areas with a contamination density of 137 Cs over 1 Ci/km 2 (37 kBq/m 2) or SGED over 1 mSv were classified.
Since the first criterion in practice turned out to be much more stringent, a significant number of territories with a pollution density of 1 to 5 Ci/km 2 were formed on the territory of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine, but the SGED was less than 1 mSv - in Russia this is the so-called. zones with preferential socio-economic status, which, although they did not require special government intervention, were in fact also recognized contaminated areas .
Thus, if we follow the Chernobyl criteria, polluted on the maps of group "D", with some assumption, all areas indicated in non-brown shades can be considered (starting with a pale green color, indicating a density of cesium-137 contamination at a level of 30-60 kBq/m2).
Further, according to the Chernobyl zoning principle, to residence zone with the right to resettle should include areas with a soil contamination density of 137 Cs from 5 to 15 Ci/km 2 (185-555 kBq/m 2) or SGED over 1 mSv.
TO resettlement zone include territories with a contamination density of 137 Cs over 15 Ci/km 2 (555 kBq/m 2), and with values over 40 Ci/km 2 (1480 kBq/m 2) or SGED over 5 mSv, the territory was recognized mandatory eviction zone .
Let's give Chernobyl map pollution, compiled on the basis of the principle of zoning the territory according to the density of soil contamination with 137 Cs.
Rice. 3. Density of soil surface contamination with cesium-137 after the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant
It should be noted that at the moment many scientists criticize the lower pollution level set at 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 areas with different landscape and biogeochemical characteristics, doses can differ hundreds or more times with 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 “victims”. As a result, the funds allocated to pay compensation to victims were scattered among a huge number of people. At the same time, in less polluted regions, total payments per dose unit turned out to be much higher than in more polluted regions. In addition, as a result of the measures taken, territories with levels of additional radiation exposure on the population below the level of radiation from natural background were legally classified as victims. As it turned out later, over 30% of the territories contaminated with a density above 1 Ci/km 2 ended up outside the USSR altogether, although no compensation for harm 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 Chernobyl. In other words, until new standards are developed, those who live in potentially contaminated areas (or those who have loved ones 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.
Acquainted with full list cards available on this moment, or view maps in more high resolution can be found on the website of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The same maps are on the Japan Atomic Energy Agency website available in interactive form (NEW!), which allows you to zoom in and enlarge the point of interest (maps are in Japanese, two formats are offered: electronic map and PDF).
(1) Map of group "A" (for explanation of groups, see the beginning of the article), showing the background radiation at a height of 1 meter above the ground - allows you to estimate the average annual effective radiation dose(recall that background radiation 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 cesium-137 - for comparison with Chernobyl zones;
(3) Group “C” map showing the density of soil contamination with cesium-134 and cesium 137 (sum of 2 isotopes) - these maps show more adequately and more clearly current pollution level, 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 the government publishes new maps for new prefectures. To quickly navigate to maps for the prefecture you are interested in, use the following links:
18 prefectures of Japan(data October 13; hereinafter the monitoring date is indicated in parentheses, not the publication date)
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
Active actions Japanese efforts 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 scale nuclear events. Just like the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. 116 thousand people were resettled from the 30-kilometer (still closed) zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant to “clean places.” From the Japanese radioactive disaster zone there is almost a third more - 160 thousand.
As noted newspaper The Japan Times, the previous maximum radiation recorded at the collapsed reactor was 73 sieverts per hour, also lethal to humans. Tepco reported that recently “high radioactive radiation were 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 are the Japanese going to investigate the situation and finally dismantle the three destroyed reactors at such unimaginable levels of radiation - a person can die even from a short-term exposure to these 530 sieverts per hour? As Japanese employees say National Institute radiological sciences, doctors have never before dealt with such high level radiation. According to the institute, just four sieverts of radiation can kill a person. Japanese experts say that even one sievert (1,000 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 times Chernobyl disaster I’m used to assessing nuclear troubles in X-rays. One sievert is equal to 100 roentgens. A dose of three to five sieverts is a 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 Soviet firefighters (they received, of course, much larger doses) when extinguishing the reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in April-May 1986. Instant death or death delayed for several days occurs when the body is damaged by more than 15 sieverts per hour. For comparison, there are currently 530 at the Japanese reactor, which is about to be dismantled.
The newly emerging situation has further complicated the task of Japanese nuclear scientists to decommission the destroyed reactors. Key Question: How can fuel be removed at such levels of irradiation? (It is known that the government and the company planned to do this in 2021, waiting for the “infernal” machines to cool down and radiation levels to fall.) In the coming weeks, it was planned to expand work with remote control, that is, using robots to check what is happening inside the reactor containment, but the company will most likely have to change its plan.
If no one thinks about using people (it was only in the Soviet Union that people went to great lengths to throw graphite from the roof of the Chernobyl reactor with their bare hands, but in Japan there were no people willing), then relying on robots under newly discovered circumstances no longer raises Local experts 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, the controlled “assistant” would work (theoretically) for more than ten hours, then with the current 530 units it would “die” in less than two hours.
However, technical problems are just the beginning. The “berries” of the Fukushima disaster are an environmental disaster for the World Ocean and its inhabitants, about which everyone has been stubbornly silent for almost six years.
According to The Japan Times, “a black mass was found on the grate directly below the reactor. The image taken by a remotely monitored camera shows that part of the grid has been lost, leaving a two-meter hole under the reactor's primary thermal envelope." That is, the molten fuel has already come out. Its real condition remains unknown as the radiation is too high for humans to check. As the head of the decommissioning of the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant, Naohiro Masuda, 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, 30 to 50% of the fuel remained, the rest melted. Unfortunately, we don’t know where this fuel is located.” Looks like they finally found out.
Neither the newspaper nor the electric company Tepco itself goes into detail about what this means for the environment - the leakage of molten uranium fuel - and what it threatens. Meanwhile, it is clear even to a non-specialist that another disaster has occurred: the destroyed reactor No. 2 of the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant is in contact with Pacific Ocean, turning its waters into a radioactive solution that flows into the World Ocean.
Continuous repeated seismic strikes 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 disaster continues to grow, but some hopes are justified, and relatives and friends find each other.
(Total 52 photos)
1. Japanese evacuees are tested for radiation levels in special center in Koriyama City, Fukushima Prefecture, March 15. (Wally Santana/Associated Press)
2. A child is tested for radiation levels in Nihonmatsu, Fukushima Prefecture. Tokyo is gripped by a wave of panic after radiation levels rise in the area affected by the earthquake nuclear reactor in the north of the country, which forced many to leave the capital or stock up on food and basic necessities. (Reuters/Kyodo)
3. The radiation detector shows 0.6 microsieverts, which is higher than normal radiation levels. The photo was taken near Shibuya train station in Tokyo. (Associated Press/Kyodo News)
4. A center worker in a protective suit helps people find their way to the radiation scanning center in Koriyama on March 15. (Mark Baker/Associated Press)
5. Workers in protective suits are escorted to the center to scan people who find themselves within a 20 km radius of the Fukushima nuclear reactor, where radiation leaked after the earthquake. The photo was taken in the city of Koriyama. (Gregory Bull/Associated Press)
6. Evacuees are tested for radiation levels at a special center in Koriyama. (Wally Santana/Associated Press)
7. The queue for buses from the city to 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 residents of Japan. (Mike Clarke/AFP/Getty Images)
8. A woman emerges from the scanning center carrying an electrically heated blanket in Koriyama. (Gregory Bull/Associated Press)
9. Japanese soldiers ground forces Self-defense forces are preparing 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 wait for transport to leave the tsunami-ravaged city of Sendai in Miyagi Prefecture. On March 15, the Japanese government called on residents to quickly buy food and essential supplies. The country is trying to recover after the earthquake and tsunami against the background new threat– danger of a nuclear catastrophe. (Mike Clarke/AFP/Getty Images)
11. Evacuees from the radiation leak area from the Fukushima plant to a shelter in Fukushima. (The Yomiuri Shimbun, Shuhei Yokoyama/Associated Press)
12. This woman has just learned that the body of her relative has been recovered from the rubble of a building in Kesennuma. (Associated Press/Kyodo News)
13. People are waiting medical care at a shelter for victims in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture. (Lee Jae-Won/Reuters)
14. Evacuees listen to a report on ongoing rescue work at a shelter in Minamisanriku, Miyagi Prefecture. (Shuji Kajiyama/Associated Press)
15. Older couples greeting each other. (Lee Jae-Won/Reuters)
16. Refugees on mats in the center for evacuees in Sendai. (Mike Clarke/Getty Images)
17. Family reunion for the first time since the Rikuzentakata earthquake. (Lee Jae-Won/Reuters)
18. A stampede for protective clothing at a refugee shelter in Fukushima. (Associated Press/The Yomiuri Shimbun, Shuhei Yokoyama)
19. Reunion of mother and children at the evacuation center in Rikuzentakata. (Masahiro Ogawa/Associated Press)
20. Charging at the evacuation center in Minamisanriku. (Associated/The Yomiuri Shimbun, Tsuyoshi Matsumoto)
21. Evacuated residents of Minasianriku dine with the rations they received in the center illuminated 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 thousand 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 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 bending 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 a Chinese international search and rescue team search for disaster victims in a destroyed house in Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture. (Associated Press/Xinhua, Lui Siu Wai)
29. Tired rescuers after have a hard day to Sendai. (Associated Press/Junji Kurokawa)
30. British search and rescue team member Rob Furniss and his dog Byron try to find survivors under the rubble of a building in Ofunato. Two rescue teams from the US and one from the UK, totaling 220 people, are combing areas of the city of Ofunato in search of survivors. (Matt Dunham/Associated Press)
31. Mother and daughter leave the destroyed area of \u200b\u200bthe city of Otsuchi. 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 Kesennuma on March 15. (Adres Latif/Reuters)
33. The Sasaki family with things that they managed to take out from a house almost completely destroyed by the 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. Japanese soldier passes by bodies in the town of Rikuzentakata. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)
36. Family photo albums on 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 on the ruins of a house in Minamisanriku. (David Guttenfelder/Associated Press)
39. Terrible consequences tsunami in the city of Sendai. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)
40. Keiko Nakamura and his wife on the ruins 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 stands amid destruction in the town of Kesennuma on March 15. (Adrees Latif/Reuters)46. Survivors of the earthquake and tsunami under umbrellas in the destroyed city of Minamisanriku. (Guttenfelder/Associated Press)49. The bodies of victims covered with blankets in the destroyed town of Rikuzentakata. (Lee Jae-Won/Reuters)52. Members of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces during a rescue operation in the city of Ofunato. (Matt Dunham/Associated Press)
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