Fukushima-Daiichi na vlastné oči

Zóna #1 (The Zone #1)

Hor sa do terénu! Dostať sa do Japonska nie je práve lacný špás, jedine pokiaľ sa Vám podarí chytiť výbornú akciu na letenky ako mne (230€ spiatočne).

Off to the terrain! Flying to Japan is not particulary cheap, unless You happen to spot a sweet deal on fligh tickets (230€ return in my case).

Svojpomocne by som sa do Zóny asi nepozrel, našťastie jeden z mála Slovákov žijúcim v krajine vychádzajúceho Slnka je môj bratranec Henri, a práve oni našli spôsob ako si zónu prehliadnuť. Niekoľko postarších niekdajších obyvateľov v súčasnosti dobrovoľne prevádza ľudí po tejto oblasti, kde oni ešte nedávno žili. A ďalšie pozitívum je, že do zóny nie je treba vybavovať žiadne povolenie, nakoľko od apríla 2016 v zóne prakticky nie sú checkpointy (okrem najbližšieho okolia elektrárne) a až na užší okruh okolo elektrárne je v podstate možný voľný pohyb po zóne. Kontaktovali sme teda toto združenie a jeden pán nám sľúbil, že nás po zóne prevedie a niečo nám o zóne povie. Stretli sme sa s ním na jednom odpočívadle a následne sa vydali smerom do neznáma. Jedinou nevýhodou, že pán nehovoril po anglicky, našťastie mi Henri prekladal.

I probably wouldn't be able to get into the zone just by myself, but luckily, one of the few Slovaks living in the Empire of the Rising Sun is my cousin Henri. He and his wife Junko happened to find a way of exploring the zone around the powerplant. Several former inhabitants of the zone, mostly elderly people, voluntarily guide strangers in places where they used to live. Another thing that will make the trip a bit easier - there are no checkpoints in the outer part of the zone and the only checkpoints that You will encounter are roads heading directly for the powerplant. So You can basically move "freely" around the zone. Junko contacted this voluteer organization and were lucky - one elderly man promised us to show us around and tell some stories about the zone. In a couple of days, we met him and drove to the unknown. The only drawback was that he spoke no English but luckily Henri is fluent in Japanese.

Hoci v Japonsku sa myslí aj na cudzincov a množstvo informačných tabúľ má aj anglický preklad, nečakajte takýto luxus v zóne, cudzinec v podstate ani netuší, že vstupuje do územiami s určitými rizikami. Pokiaľ nemáte so sebou dozimeter, tak jediná indikácia, že ste vstúpili do zóny sú takéto "zberné dvory":

Alhtough Japan is usually very thoughtful of foreigners in terms of signs in English, don't expect this kind of luxury in the zone. As a stranger, You have basically no idea that You enterde an area with some potential risks. Unless You have a dosimeter with You, the only indication that You've entered the zone are these "collection sites":

(jedno z mnohých skladísk rádioaktívnej pôdy / one of many facilities storing radioactive soil)

Jedná sa o miesta, kam je zvážaná a skladovaná rádioaktívna pôda z ryžových polí v podobe čiernych "balíkov". Takýchto skladovacích zariadení sú po zóne snáď desikatky až stovky, vidíte ich na každom rohu. Pôvodný zámer bol použiť túto pôdu na stavbu bariér proti tsunami, pričom sa tak malo stať do 3 rokov od nehody (t.j. 2014). No aj v decembri 2016, kedy sme v zóne boli, pôda len pribúdala a nie naopak.

The purpose of these facilities is to store radioactive soil from rice fields, in a form of black-foil-wrapped bales. There are literally tens to hundreds these sites all around the zone, they can be seen around every corner. The original idea was to build anti-tsunami barriers around the coast using this soil, but it was supposed to happen till 2014. As of December 2016, the soil seemed only to be stacking up.

(príjazd na farmu, dozimeter ukazuje 0,5µSv/h / arriving at a farm, dosimeter showing 0.5µSv/h)

(náš sprievodca naľavo, Masami Yoshizawi napravo / our guide on the left, Mr. Masami Yoshizawi on the right)

Prvá naša zastávka bola na farme Masamiho Yoshizawiho, šesťdesiatnika, ktorý odmieta podľahnúť tlaku vlády vysťahovať sa a naďalej sa stará o svoje zvieratá. Stal sa z neho občiansky aktivista, ktorý sa snaží poukazovať na lži japonskej vlády ohľadom "zvládania" fukushimskej katastrofy. Na svojej farme, vzdialanej asi 15 kilometrov od elektrárne, má malú unimobunku, kde má množstvo fotografií o tom, čo sa dialo v okolí tesne po nehode.

Our first stop was at Mr. Masami Yoshizawi's farm. In his sixties, he refuses to bow to the pressure of the government and insists on staying where he's lived most of his life, looking after his animals. He became civil activist, who tries to point out the lies that government spreads about the Fukushima accident. On his farm, located about 15km from the plant, he has a small cabin where he displays a lot of photographs about the things that were happening shortly after the disaster.

(Masami Yoshizawi a časť vystavených fotografií / Masami Yoshizawi and a part of his gallery)

Nanešťastie, ani on nehovoril anglicky. Tvrdil, že výbuchy na elektrárni bolo počuť až 20km a on sám mohol z diaľky pozorovať, ako hasia alektráreň. Napriek silnému úniku radiácie 15. marca zostal na farme e3te dva dni, t.j. odišiel 6 dní po nehode. Po týždni sa, napriek nariadenej evakuácii, vrátil k svojim zvieratám. Hovoril tiež o tom, ako sa prvá vlna ľudí z okolia elektrárne sťahovala paradoxne do oblasti okolo 20. kilometra od elektrárne iba aby sa musela po rozšírení zóny ohrozenia sťahovať ešte ďalej.

Unfortunatelly, he also didn't speak English. He said that the explosions on the powerplant could be heard from 20km distance. He was also able to see as the plant fires were being extinguished. Despite very strong radiation leak on 15th March 2011 he left his farm two days later (that means 6 days after the accident). Even though the evacuation was mandatory, he returned to his animals in just a week. He also spoke about people living the vicinity of the plant who first evacuated to about 20th kilometer, only having to move further away when the zone was widened.

Svoju farmu má v podstate ako taký symbol vzdoru voči vláde a trochu ako zoo, nakoľko nesmie predávať mlieko ani mäso kráv, no on sám ich konzumuje. Zatiaľ jediného odškodnenia, ktorého sa mu dostalo, je, že štát od neho z času na čas kravy odkúpi, zabije a spáli. Ako sám tvrdí, najradšej by ho odtiaľ vysťahovali a jeho farmu zrovnali so zemou. Ako som mal možnosť namerať, na jeho farme bolo asi 0,5µSv/h, čo je oproti normálu asi 4x viac. Podľa Yoshizawiho je však v horách intenzita žiarenia až 10µSv/h.

He keeps his farm as a symbol of resistance to the government and as a zoo, because he cannot sell meat or diary products, but he himself eats them. The only reparation he has been given so far was when government, from time to time, buys some of his cows and then kills and burns their meat. He said that the government is willing to move him away and raze the farm, but he refuses. I took some measurements on his farm, dosimeter showed 0.5µSv/h, which is about 4-times the level of natural radiation. According to Mr. Yoshizawi, radiation in the mountains may get as high as 10µSv/h.

(Tie biele fľaky na srsti kráv nie sú chyba fotoaparátu, ale takto sa kravy v zóne okolo elektrárne "vyhádzali" tesne po nehode / Those white spots are not a camera defect, but this is what happened to the cows around the power plant shortly after the disaster)

Táto časť prefektúry Fukushima bola v celom Japonsku známa divými koňmi, chovom kráv a produkciou hovädzieho mäsa. Na zvieratá na farmách, ktoré po evakuácii ostali bez ľudí, čakal krutý osud - tie, ktorým sa nepodarilo ujsť, umierali od nedostatku vody či jedla. Mnohé zvieratá, ktorým sa podarilo ujsť, boli pochytané a zastrelené. Sám Masami hovoril o 1800 kusoch zabitého dobytka a prasiat v jeho okolí.

This part of Fukushima prefecture was well known for wild horses, livestock and beef throughout whole Japan. Animals on abandoned farms were met with very cruel fate - those which didn't manage to escape died horribly from lack of food or water. And those which did, were mostly caught and shot. Masami himself spoke about 1800 cows and pigs killed nearby.

(zničená infraštruktúra po zemetrasení / destroyed infrastructure after the earthquake)

Zábery na budovy reaktorov vo Fukushime-Daiichi poškodené výbuchmi vodíka. Tá žltá "pologuľa" na fotografii vpravo je vrchná časť oceľového telesa reaktora. Sám Yoshizawi je napr. proti tomu, aby Japonsko v roku 2020 organizovalo olympiádu - podľa neho existuje vysoké riziko, že v dotyčný rok dôjde k silnému zemetraseniu. Navyše by sa mala vláda venovať likvidácii katastrofy a nie organizovaním hier. V súčasnej dobe tiež protestuje proti projektu jadrovej elektrárne v Indii, ktorý by mali postaviť práve Japonci. Keďže sa pán Yoshizawi ku koncu politicky rozohnil a nedozvedali sme sa prakticky nič nové, poďakovali sme mu a pokračovali zónou ďalej.

Pictures of reactor buildings in Fukushima-Daiichi after hydrogen explosions. The yellow hemisphere on the right photo is actually the pressure vessel of the reactor. Yoshizawi himself is actually against 2020 Tokyo Olympics - he said that the risk of a strong earthquake around that time is very high. Moreover, the government should be dealing with the disaster consequences and not Olympic Games. He is also opposing a recent project of NPP being built in India by the Japanese. Because the talk with Mr. Yoshizawi soon turned into a political monologue, we thanked him and continued on our journey.