Accident at a nuclear power plant in Japan. Explosion at nuclear power plant in Japan resounded throughout the world

The explosion in Japan in 2011 left a heavy imprint on the lives of all people living in and outside the disaster area. Until now, the thought of the explosion at Fukushima makes the heart skip a beat, and the consequences are terrifying with their paintings.

Experts say that the explosion will remind of itself for more than one year, and all liquidation work will be completed at least in 40 years. Let's still figure out what caused the explosion at a nuclear power plant in Japan to gain such power and change the lives of thousands of people.

The story begins in 2011, when, on March 11, around 15:00 local time, Japan was shaken by an earthquake off the Pacific coast. This earthquake was recorded as the fifth strongest in the history of research (vibration magnitude from 9.0 to 9.1). For Japan, this was the most strong earthquake that ever happened.

The consequences were such that three functioning power units out of the six available, each with a capacity of 4.7 GW, stopped working. It seems that this should not have raised any thoughts that the Fukushima explosion might happen. But, it was not there, following the earthquake, Japan was covered by a powerful tsunami, which caused all the electricity that was available to stop. The nuclear power plant was left without him too.

It would seem that in such a serious installation there should be some kind of backup methods of generating electricity, but there were none. Diesel generators, which were installed on the ocean, were designed to remove the remainder of the heat that the reactors emit. But, backup generators also crashed and were without power. It is worth noting that the heat release of the reactor at that time was approximately 6.5% of general level power.

Power plants were urgently delivered to the power plant. They were intended to replace failed diesel plants. But again, misfortune happened, since the installations that were available did not fit the system.

There were, of course, emergency batteries, but they ceased to function after two hours of operation, as they were intended for less complex cases.

Repair problems

Another reason was sea water. Due to the tsunami, salt water flooded all the basements, which shorted out the main electrical distribution panels. In this regard, all attempts to return electricity were in vain.

One problem clung to another and it all resulted in a bunch of consequences. The fact that the reactors were not cooled led to the formation of steam, which increased the pressure in the first three power units. The fastest reaction between zirconium and water vapor happened in the first power unit.

In order to prevent a premature explosion at a nuclear power plant in Japan under high pressure, workers collected all the radioactive vapor in a hermetic shell. Incredible fact– the pressure of the containment at 400 kPa solvable increased by more than two times and was equal to 840 kPa.

It became clear that the pressure had to be somehow reduced. The workers of the nuclear power plant solved this issue in the following way: release excess steam from the containment to the atmosphere. At the same time, it was guaranteed that everything would be filtered and air pollution with radionuclides would not be critical. The steam had to be passed through the wet material.

When steam was released, a reaction between zirconium and water vapor occurred in the shell, and a condensate from hydrogen formed. There was no ventilation at all, because there was no electricity supply, the emergency system was also powered by electricity.
It became clear that an explosion at a nuclear power plant in Japan was inevitable.

Stages of explosions

And so it happened, a day after the earthquake, on March 12, there was a powerful explosion in Japan in 2011 - hydrogen exploded in the first power unit. The question arises before us - why the owners and employees of nuclear power plants did not provide for possible explosion in Fukushima, because the nuclear power plant was located in an area where earthquakes were not uncommon.

Special knockout panels were installed. But here played a terrible human negligence. Since these panels reacted to even the smallest earthquake, they sometimes opened, which made the plant employees very unhappy.

IT IS IMPORTANT TO KNOW:

Therefore, back in 2007, the management issued instructions to weld knockout panels to the walls of the building, despite the high percentage that at any moment something could cause an explosion to sound in Japan. To say that this was the reason that the entire roof of the building was destroyed would be an understatement.

Not only did four people get injured immediately after the explosion, but the level of radiation increased 9,000 times higher than the permissible norm (1015 mk3v / h). And this is a more terrible harm to the body than a broken leg or a burn.

The Fukushima explosion was on the front pages of all the media, as there was a huge possibility that another block - No. 3 - would explode. On it, the cooling system also failed, so all the same manipulations were carried out as in the case before the explosion at the nuclear power plant for the first time.

Two days after the first explosion of a reactor in Japan, there was a second explosion at Fukushima. Its wave was felt by everyone at a distance of forty kilometers from the location of the nuclear power plant. Physically affected three times more people than the first time there was an explosion of a nuclear power plant in Japan, and the radiation level was 751 mk3v / h.

The most unfortunate thing is that on March 15, 2011, there was a third explosion at a nuclear power plant in Japan at power unit No. 2. The situation was so complicated that neither the management, nor the scientists, nor the workers knew what to do. This time, the management, in order to avoid a third case called Japan nuclear explosion, decided not to release steam into the atmosphere.

They chose another affordable option- lower it into the bubbler pool (tank or container for extinguishing kinetic energy jet of steam-water mixture). Subsequently, the explosion was much smaller. But, in contrast to the first two cases, the third reactor explosion in Japan did much more harm.

If the degree of radiation in the first case exceeded allowable rate 9000 times and amounted to 1015 mk3v / h, then after the third case under the world famous name in all media Japan explosion, the number has risen to 8217 mk3v / h. The figure is terrifying and says that life in this territory is simply impossible.

People were immediately evacuated, the workers were taken to the hospital. Only 50 people remained at the scene of the accident, as they were called kamikaze, or suicide bombers, who watched the remaining power units.

Other nuclear power plants

According to experts, the explosion in Japan could happen again. Not far from Fukushima-1, another nuclear power plant, Fukushima-2, was located. But the explosion at Fukushima No. 2 did not occur, although there were many problems with cooling. It's scary to even imagine what would happen if another explosion sounded in Japan.

Summing up

And so, to summarize all the facts that we have explained in this article:

• The earthquake that caused the explosion of a nuclear power plant in Japan was the most powerful in the history of the country.
• The tsunami was the second reason that there was an explosion at a nuclear power plant in Japan. The maximum wave height reached 40.5 meters. More than 20,000 people were injured or disappeared after it.

Today, the results of the Fukushima explosions are manifested in various gene mutations, diseases and anomalies. People do not know what to do with it and continue to fight hard.

In the scientific field of activity, to date, they have developed a new robot that will be able to dismantle the rubble of a nuclear power plant.

The explosion at Fukushima should serve good lesson those who want to build some more installations of this type. Life-threatening installations should be placed as far as possible not only from the habitat of the ordinary population, but also away from the places of natural disasters. After all, mother nature is unpredictable, and we must protect our lives and the lives of all the inhabitants of the planet.

On March 11, 2011, the strongest earthquake in the history of the country occurred in Japan. It started at 14:46. by local time. The epicenter of this earthquake was in an area 70 km east of the island of Honshu. The amplitude of the tremors sometimes reached 9.1 points based on the readings of the Richter scale. The result of this earthquake was a tsunami that raised the ocean waters up to 40 m.

The consequences of this natural disaster were terrible. More than eighteen thousand people were killed and missing. The disaster left hundreds of thousands of people homeless.

The impact of the elements also hit the nuclear power plant, Fukushima-1, which was one hundred and eighty kilometers from the epicenter itself. Then a whole chain of events occurred that led to the melting of the active zone at the same time 3 reactors of the nuclear power plant. This was the main reason for the major accident on Earth since a similar event in Chernobyl.

Development of a promising direction

Since the 60s of the 20th century. in the land of the rising sun Special attention began to focus on nuclear energy. By developing this direction, Japan planned to reduce its dependence on energy imports. The country, whose economic growth after the 2nd World War could be described as a miracle, began the construction of nuclear power plants, despite the difficult seismic situation that took place on its islands.

By 2011, 54 reactors located at 21 power plants were generating electricity in Japan. In general, they generated almost a third of all the energy needed by the country. However, not everything was so rosy. Since the 1980s, quite serious incidents have occurred at a number of nuclear power plants, which were simply not reported by the management companies. The accident at Fukushima-1 forced this practice to be revealed. The information subsequently received shocked not only the inhabitants of the country, but the entire world community.

NPP "Fukushima-1"

This nuclear power plant belonged to the first generation of such complexes in the country. It was erected in the city of Okuma, located on the territory of Fukushima Prefecture in the eastern region of the island of Honshu.

The construction of the largest Fukushima-1 station in the Japanese archipelago (see photo below) began back in 1967.

Its first reactor, which was designed and built by the American concern General Electric, began to operate in the spring of 1971. Over the next 8 years, 5 more power units were attached to it. The volume generated by Fukushima-1 (the Fukushima-2 nuclear power plant was built not far from it in the 1980s) amounted to 4,700 MW.

The impact of the strongest earthquake

All nuclear power plants in Japan were built taking into account the inevitability of the strongest tremors. The calculation was made even for such major earthquake, which happened on March 11, 2011 in pacific ocean. It was on this day that the interaction of the Okhotsk continental, as well as the Pacific oceanic plate, which was trying to sink under it, took place. This caused the largest earthquake in the country. But not only the vibrations of the surface and the earth's interior had such tragic consequences. Already 30 minutes after the first shock, a tsunami hit the island of Honshu. On the different areas territory, its height varied significantly. However, it reached its maximum off the coast belonging to the northeastern prefecture of Iwate. Here, a wave swept over Miyako, the height of which reached 38-40 m. But in the territory where Big City sendai, water element moved inland for a distance of 10 km, while flooding the airport.

It was the tsunami that became the main cause of the huge number of human casualties, as well as serious destruction. The ocean wave washed away towns and cities, destroyed communications and houses, overturned trains, planes and cars.

Technological disaster

The tsunami, combined with the human factor, was the reason for the accident at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant. She was subsequently recognized as the second based on the severity of the consequences that took place in the history of mankind.

The site allocated for the construction of the Japanese station was located on a cliff, the height of which was 35 m above sea level. However, after earthworks were carried out, this value decreased by 25 m. Subsequently management company such a decision was justified. It was justified by the need to fix the foundations of the station on a rocky foundation, which should have increased its seismic resistance. The nuclear power plant was protected from the tsunami by a special dam, considering that its height of 5.7 m would save the structure from the elements.

On March 11, 2011, at the Fukushima-1 station, only half of the six power units were operational. In reactors 4, 5, 6, a scheduled replacement of fuel assemblies was carried out. Immediately after the tremors began to be felt, as it should be according to the regulations, the automatic protection system worked. She stopped the power units that were working at that time. At the same time, the power supply was interrupted. But it was restored with the help of backup diesel generators available for such a case, which were located at the lower level of the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant. This made it possible to start cooling the reactors. The operation of diesel generators continued for 50 minutes. During this time, the tsunami reached the station and covered it with a wave, the height of which was 15-17 m. The ocean waters easily overcame the dam and flooded the territory of Fukushima-1, as well as its lower levels, interrupting the operation of diesel generators.

The next chain of tragic events was the shutdown of pumps that circulated the coolant that cooled the shutdown power units. This provoked an increase in pressure in the reactors, which the station personnel first tried to release into the thermal shell, and then, when this was no longer possible, into the atmosphere. At this time, hydrogen penetrated into the lining of the reactors along with steam.

Further destruction of the nuclear power plant

Over the next four days, the accident at Fukushima-1 (Japan) was accompanied by successive explosions of accumulated hydrogen. First, they occurred in power unit 1, and then in 3 and 2. As a result, partial destruction of the reactor vessels began. At the same time, several employees of the nuclear power plant, who eliminated the accident, were injured.

Staff work

Engineers at the service of the management company did not give up trying to establish an emergency power supply to cool the overheated reactors. To do this, they used mobile generators. However, after a series of explosions, all people were urgently evacuated. Only 50 people remained on the territory of the station, who continued to provide emergency measures.

All the following weeks after the tremors, rescuers, firefighters and engineers continued to deal with the problem of cooling power units. The result of their efforts was the adjustment of power supply. In addition, the reactors were additionally filled with water. However, such measures by that time were already belated. The active zones of the power units, inside which there was fuel, managed to melt. In addition, damage was found to the thermal shells, the task of which was to prevent the ingress of radioactive elements into the soil and air.

Environmental pollution

The accident at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant (Japan) led to the fact that radiation began its active penetration outside the power units. Both groundwater and the water used to cool the reactors were contaminated. The staff tried to prevent the negative consequences of the accident at Fukushima-1. To do this, contaminated water was collected in special containers and pools. However, despite all the actions taken, radioactive liquid began to enter the ocean.

Only by the end of 2011 did the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant manage to bring the damaged reactors to a state of cold shutdown. However, it is obvious that radioactive isotopes are still leaking into groundwater.

In addition, when measures were taken to eliminate the existing catastrophic consequences, Fukushima-1 became literally surrounded by hundreds of tanks filled with contaminated water and thousands of black bags containing about 150 thousand tons of radioactive waste. And even today, the Japanese have not yet decided what to do with so much dangerous garbage.

Accident classification

Initially, the catastrophe that occurred at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant was attributed to the 4th level nuclear events according to the International INES scale. In other words, it was considered an accident that did not pose significant risks to the environment.

However, a month after the incident, the country's supervisory organizations realized the extent and existence of the existing consequences. After that, the accident was assigned the seventh level. Thus, according to the INES scale, the accident at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant (Japan) began to be classified as a major one, with strong emissions, having severe consequences for the environment and the population. Before the events described, such a catastrophe occurred only once. It was an accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which belonged to the Soviet Socialist Republic, which happened on April 26, 1986.

exclusion zones

The accident at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant had the most negative consequences for the local population. Already on March 12, 2011, a decision was made to evacuate residents whose houses were located in a 3-kilometer zone near the station. On March 12, 2011, the exclusion area was extended to 10 km, and on March 14, 2011, to 20 km. In general, 120 thousand people were taken out of the settlements located around Fukushima-1, most of whom have not returned to their homes to date and are unlikely to do so in the future.

human sacrifice

In the process of liquidating the consequences of the man-made disaster that occurred at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant, two employees of the station died. On March 11, 2011, they were in a room with backup diesel generators. It is very problematic to calculate the rest of the victims of the accident. On the one hand, a large release of radioactive elements into the atmosphere, unlike Chernobyl, was prevented in time. Besides, in as soon as possible and the population was quickly evacuated. Even the increased dose of radiation received by some employees of the station was not critically large.

However, if we consider further events, then already several of the 50 personnel remaining after the explosions died of cancer. However, officials assure that their illness was in no way connected with the accident.

Assess the impact of the event on human health this moment does not seem possible. First of all, due to the fact that not so much time has passed since the emissions. But according to the estimates made by the newspaper The New York Times, in the first months after the incident, approximately 1,600 people evacuated from the exclusion zone died. The reason for this was the stress associated with the move, which caused an exacerbation of chronic ailments. In addition, in the early days of the evacuation, people spent a long time in unsuitable shelters and felt a lack of medical care. In addition, suicides are quite common in Japan, the cause of which is separation from one's home. Similar deaths can also be counted among the consequences of the catastrophe and among the victims of human error.

Station decommissioning

In order to bring the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant to a safe state, as well as to eliminate the isotope leaks that are still ongoing from the thermal shells of the three destroyed power units, the Japanese will need to remove the melted fuel in the reactors. Such activities with simultaneous decontamination of the adjacent territory will take at least forty years. The elimination of the consequences of the disaster will cost the state, as well as the management company, an astronomical amount of approximately $100 billion.

The most important thing is that the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant completely ruined the image of the entire nuclear industry in the eyes of the Japanese. Already in 2011, all nuclear power plants in the country were closed. And only four years later, one of them, located in Sendai, started working again. The Japanese government plans to close the first-generation nuclear power plant for good. At the same time, there is no certainty that similar giants of a new type will come to replace them. And this is despite the fact that the country's economy needs cheap energy like air. However, this is likely to be hindered by the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant, which periodically appears in the news reports of news agencies. So, according to the data received by the media, in April 2015, a robot was lowered into one of the reactors of the station, which took photographs from the inside. In September of the same year, after heavy rains, 240 containers containing contaminated soil were washed into the river. At the end of October 2015, the management company finally completed the construction of a new dam designed to block the flow ground water from the ocean.

Japan, together with all its inhabitants, must go through a long and difficult path, which will make it possible to eliminate all the consequences of this horrific catastrophe. And at the same time, having received such a cruel lesson, to finally choose for themselves whether to continue the development of their own nuclear energy or still do without it.

March 11, 2011 was the worst day for the small prefecture of the state. The reason was the disaster that occurred at the nuclear power plant called Fushima-1. The news spread so quickly that expensive radiation protection products instantly began to be bought up in neighboring territories. The Fukushima accident provoked not only a global scandal, but also pushed Japan's influence back several steps in the development of engineering.

Accident at a nuclear power plant

Fukushima, which was wrecked by two forces of nature, was the first to be hit by the earthquake. The power supply was cut off not only at the station, but also throughout the city. However, Japanese engineers made another assumption: the location of the Fukushima nuclear power plant near water, which increases the likelihood of a tsunami, because there are mountains nearby, which entails an earthquake. Such an arrangement should have confused the builders - engineers, since the threat of an accident existed throughout the years of work.

As a result, Fukushima, Japan, which has always been proud of, fell from an earthquake, which led to a power outage. However, after the accident, backup generators were automatically launched, which supported its operation for some time, but the tsunami that came did not allow the station to hold out until completion. repair work.

Causes

The accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant could also be provoked by the fact that the station's device is outdated, since its launch dates back to the 70th year. In the process of creating the nuclear project, emergency management was not provided for in case of natural disasters outside its territory. The Fukushima disaster arose after the tsunami, which was provoked by the emerging earthquake.

When the situation reached a critical point, the backup generators were unable to bear the load, but the BWR continued to operate for some time, but alone could not cope with the task that had arisen. The lack of proper cooling led to its complete stop, although many observers of the disaster in Japan remember that for a long time engineers and manually tried to stabilize the temperature.

There is an unofficial version of many experts who studied all the events and consequences of Fukushima that the main cause of the accident was a miscalculation of engineers. This statement is based on the following theses:

1. Spare generators should be switched on automatically only in an event that does not occur so often. It is logical to assume that as a result of a long downtime, the mechanisms of the devices could become obsolete, there was not enough fuel to start, etc.
2. Since the tragedy at the nuclear power plant was unpredictable and happened rather quickly, it is worth considering the possibility that there might not be competent specialists on the territory who could correct the problems that had arisen in the emergency system.
3. Even if the building is in danger of collapsing, the main generator runs on diesel fuel and was supposed to save the situation if necessary. Since this did not happen, we can conclude that the security system worked with major shortcomings and errors.

It is worth noting one more strange assumption: Japanese rescuers and engineers, due to the lack of a spare main generator, could use natural resource - sea ​​water, but subsequently the main part would have to be changed. As a result, there was a large accumulation of hydrogen in the pipe compartment, which caused the accident at the nuclear power plant.

Consequences of the disaster

The consequence of the disaster at the power plant is a decrease in performance and efficiency in many areas of the country's activities:

• The level of financial spending has risen to an all-time high, despite the fact that Japan is not the first person in charge of dealing with such incidents. First of all, the accident left many citizens homeless, which means that billions of dollars will be spent on their maintenance, as well as on the restoration of the entire affected territory. Since Fukushima - 1 stopped working, Japan is forced to look for alternative source electricity to replenish their reserves. According to the chronicle of 2011, the country's loss amounted to about 46 billion dollars.
• The second area that has undergone Negative consequences from the accident - foreign policy and economic relations with other countries. This is due to the fact that the position of Japan was initially far from the leading position in the field of nuclear production, and after this incident, it completely left the fight. However, the country can still learn from this lesson, since the entire structure and system of the plant was so old that it was impossible to replace it with new reactors, which is a serious reason for lagging behind the world level.
• The most important negative factor is the human death rate and the number of casualties. A huge number of people, numbering in the thousands, are declared missing, no less percentage of deaths, and those who managed to survive such terrible tragedy with a shudder remember her every day.

Some of the population is currently not leaving the dead zone located near Fukushima. Some of the residents who tried to find a new place of residence, but to no avail, are returning back to the old, collapsed buildings, making every effort to revive the old life on the ruins left by natural forces.

Losses

Fixing real numbers that could demonstrate the death rate from the accident today is an impossible task. Only approximate data are known, which were announced back in 2013: there are about 1,600 dead people. Around 20,000 remain missing. About 300,000 inhabitants of the island fled their homes for the following reasons:

• Failure to restore their own home as a result of the tsunami that covered the island.
• The former dwelling is located in the immediate vicinity of the station, where high level radiation, which is extremely hazardous to health.

Those residents who could not leave their homes on their own were evacuated by the government from the dangerous area within two days of the incident.

Other consequences of the disaster

The fall of Fusumima-1 affected not only the life of the country, but also the work of many foreign enterprises and economic development other countries. The famous TEPCO suffered a loss of 12 billion and in addition was obliged to pay cash as compensation to their employees, which amounted to another half of the announced amount. Since such costs are unbearable for the company, it may soon declare its own bankruptcy and stop operations.

Since the accident in 2011 was brought up for world discussion by many politicians, the opinion about the event did not find unity:

1. Many people could not remain indifferent to the tragedy at the nuclear power plant, so they went out to protest in their countries against the construction of plants and the requirement to ensure their own safety.
2. World human panic provoked unrest in all countries, even in those that were at a great distance from Japan. So, for example, in Germany, many residents, after they learned about the disaster, spent a huge amount of money on organizing their own protection against radiation.
3. The tragedy that occurred at the nuclear power plant forced many countries to reconsider the policy of maintaining and operating their own stations and to replace obsolete equipment in order to avoid the recurrence of incidents on the territory of their states.

Today, many world powers are preparing the latest ones that could ensure the safety of residents, as well as providing for the occurrence of natural disasters, new mechanisms of work. However, it is worth noting that none of them plans to suspend the operation of existing stations or completely abandon their operation, which remains a global threat. After all, if a nuclear release enters the oceans, the world population will be at risk, and eliminating such consequences will be an extremely difficult task.

The Tokyo District Court ruled that Fukushima plant operator TEPCO must pay 1.1 billion yen (about $10.1 million). The funds will be transferred as damages to 321 claimants. This is reported by the Japanese newspaper Mainichi.

These people lived before the accident in the city of Minamisoma, which ended up in a 20-kilometer zone around the nuclear power plant, subject to resettlement after the accident.

Initially, the plaintiffs demanded 11 billion yen from TEPCO, but the court reduced the amount by ten times.

Interestingly, the claimants demand to compensate them for the psychological damage from the accident at the nuclear power plant. Material damage was compensated earlier, when most of the forced migrants received new houses in settlements not affected by radiation emissions from the station, as well as "lifting" money.

It is unlikely that this lawsuit against TEPCO is the last one. Most likely, other residents of the resettled areas will also try to receive compensation for psychological damage. But how are things in Fukushima Prefecture in reality? It so happened that this prefecture became known outside of Japan mainly due to the accident at the nuclear power plant. In this connection, I am reminded of the story of a familiar Japanese diplomat. “Can you imagine,” he was surprised, “I came to Moscow from Tokyo in the fall of 2011, and I wasn’t in Fukushima. But all the same, my Russian acquaintances didn’t want to meet with me, they said, they say, you have solid radiation there, well, that’s it.” .

Six years have passed, but in Russia, many still believe that Fukushima is something like Chernobyl.

The Japanese Foreign Ministry invited a group of five journalists to Fukushima Prefecture to show how things are going there. The journalists came from Brazil, Germany, Hong Kong, the Netherlands and Russia. I must say that what we saw there was quite different from what we imagined in advance.

rice balls

The German journalist Soren Kittel, the most prudent of our group, brought a Geiger counter with him. We measured everything with it - water, fruits, fish, rice, sake, Japanese. Of course, Satori Toyomoto, director of international relations of the Nuclear Incident Response Office of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) of Japan, told us on the first day that people go without protective masks, even in most of the territory of the Fukushima nuclear power plant, since the radiation background is normal. Well, except for two reactor halls and some other rooms. And next to the station, according to METI, the radiation background is 0.02 millisieverts - this is about the same as with an x-ray of a tooth, despite the fact that 150 millisieverts is considered the maximum allowable safe dose.

But these were all words, and we wanted to see for ourselves, so the first days Soren did not part with the Geiger counter. The Japanese looked at us with surprise - they themselves do not measure anything, leaving it to the authorities and the operator of the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

We visited the so-called "antenna shop" - a store on Nihonbashi street in downtown Tokyo. The store specializes in products from Fukushima Prefecture. In a conspicuous place - fruits, the affected region was famous for them before the accident. One apple for Russian money costs about 70 rubles, a piece of persimmon - about 50 rubles. This is expensive even for Tokyo, especially given the reputation of Fukushima.

However, as Juniya Tomita, the owner of the store, explained, the Japanese are very curious about everything unusual, so there is no shortage of customers - about 1 thousand people on weekdays, about 1200 on weekends. The usual purchase amount is from 500 to 3000 yen (240 - 1700 rubles). Sake from Fukushima is especially popular. It has a very delicate taste and is considered the best in Japan.

"Are people afraid to buy food from you?" We asked Tomita-san. The fact is that a little earlier, several Tokyo residents who were not related to Fukushima answered us in approximately the same way that if there was a choice between products from Fukushima and from other prefectures, they would choose others. "Who knows what's in there," said one housewife.

When asked about customer concerns, the store owner replied that Fukushima rice does "have a negative reputation", although it is generally considered the best in Japan - it has an especially clean taste and stickiness just what is needed for making sushi and onigiri rice balls . Even the imperial house of Japan buys rice from there.

"Show us this rice," we demanded. Soren took out his counter. He showed the already familiar 0.2 microsievert - that is, nothing, the natural background.

By the way, the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture conducted a survey among the population - 70 percent of respondents would like to continue making koloboks from Fukushima rice.

Before stabilization - several decades

“Well, nothing,” we thought. “Already in Fukushima Prefecture, we will definitely find something.”

The Prefectural Agricultural Technology Center is where the rest of the testing centers scattered throughout the prefecture are controlled from. There are more than 500 such centers in total. Above the boss's desk, the clock rose at 14.46 - at this time on March 11, 2011, the main tremor occurred. It is unlikely, of course, that it was he who stopped the clock, but as a symbol and a reminder, such a sign works well.

"We've been checking every bag of rice since 2015," said Kenji Kusano, deputy director of agricultural security at the Center. Approximately 10 million 30 kg bags per year.

"And what, did they really not find any radiation during all this time"?

“There were, of course, somewhere before the end of 2015 something was met, although very little. And since then - nothing at all,” Kusano-san replied.

More dangerous, he said, were mushrooms, game and seafood, especially in the first years after the disaster. In 2013-14, more than 11 percent of wild mushrooms, almost 40 percent of game and 7 percent of seafood were in excess of radiation standards. In 2016-17, 1.43 percent of mushrooms with excess of the limit on the content of cesium-137 were detected, seafood - 0.5 percent. With game, however, it is more difficult - more than 22 percent of wild animals killed by hunters managed to run around "dirty" places.

But it is necessary to take into account the rigidity of Japanese standards. If international CODEX standards allow 1000 Becquerels per kilogram (and even 1200 in the USA), then in Japan - no more than 100 Becquerels per kilogram. At the same time, in reality, according to Kusano-san, they try to underestimate the level of radioactivity as much as possible. So, even if the content of radionuclides in the product is 50 Becquerels per kilogram, it is sent to quarantine.

In fact, experts have already found out where you can expect the appearance of radionuclides in products. The wind in the first days after the accident blew to the northwest, and the radioactive trail on the diagrams looks like a flame extended in the same direction. The length of the tongue is a little more than 30 kilometers. On the spring 2012 summary maps, it is red, because the radioactive radiation at a height of 1 meter from the ground was 19 millisieverts. Six years later, the tongue has decreased by several kilometers and turned yellow to 3.8 - 15 millisieverts.

According to METI's Satori Toyomoto, "final stabilization" will take 30-40 years.

Sand fish will warn

Of course, we were interested in fish and seafood - one of the main elements Japanese cuisine. The catch off the northeast coast of Honshu has always been especially rich. The warm Kuroshio Current and the cold Oyashio Current meet here. The temperature difference attracts marine life, so this region is one of the three main fishing zones in the entire World Ocean. More precisely, it was like this before the accident at the nuclear power plant.

Now, the fishing port of Soma in northern Fukushima Prefecture, about a hundred kilometers north of the station, is practically empty, with one or two auctions a week, although buyers include representatives from 20 prefectures, as well as the Tokyo and Osaka metropolitan areas. But there were times - the ports of Fukushima prefecture sold fish for 6.6 billion yen a year, which is about 56 million dollars. The fish was also exported. Now the catch is 8-10 percent compared to before the tsunami.

"We used to hold auctions every day, but after the accident, fishing was banned," says Tsuneo Fujita, director of the local experimental fishing station.

According to him, the largest release of radioactive water from nuclear power plants into the sea happened on April 1-6, 2011, when cesium -137 per 940 trillion Becquerels got into the ocean. But the radioactive elements were carried away by the current, and already in May 2011 the background dropped to 1-20 trillion Becquerels. This content remained for about 800 days. Now the radioactivity in local waters is 0.01 Becquerel per liter. For comparison, there were 0.001 Becquerel before the accident.

There is a poster on the wall in the room, it schematically depicts a fish with painted signs chemical elements and explanations. The same cesium-137 leaves the body, it turns out, with excrement.

According to Fujita-san, it is more likely to find radioactivity in big fish- she lives longer. Also, the accumulation of isotopes depends on the type of marine life. For example, for some reason, stingrays have more of them than squids or octopuses.

Till now under a ban there is a catch of ten kinds of fishes. It is possible that permission for their control fishing will be obtained in the near future.

We just got to the fish auction in Soma. The entire pier was lined with bowls of freshly caught fish. Red, green, yellow, silver, black - which was not there. Leading the auction sang the name of the next lot. One or two seconds - and the catch is sold.

"And when are they tested for radioactivity?" - we asked the organizers.

"Everything has already been checked," they replied.

We also asked if they were afraid of new discharges of contaminated water from nuclear power plants into the sea. “We don’t know anything about this, and we believe that this should not happen,” the fishermen replied. “But if something happens, we will immediately know about it from small translucent sand fish.” These fish, five centimeters long, are found in shallow water and are considered East Asia one of the best beer snacks. They do not withstand radiation well and immediately die in contaminated water.