On August 24, 2023, Japan launched the discharge of contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the sea. TEPCO is scheduled to discharge about 460 tons of nuclear-contaminated water per day over the next 17 days, with a gradual increase thereafter. TEPCO calculates that the contaminated water, diluted with seawater, will continue to be discharged for at least three decades. At present, China's Ministry of Ecology and Environment is organizing the monitoring of the marine radiation environment in the waters under the jurisdiction of the mainland in 2023, and will continue to track and judge the possible impact of the discharge of Fukushima's nuclear contaminated water into the sea on the mainland marine radiation environment.
On August 24, 2023, local time, aerial photograph of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant of Tokyo Electric Power Holdings. (Visual China/Photo)
Scholar Serhii Plokhy's new book, Atoms and Ashes: A History of the Nuclear Disaster, is coming Chinese edition, with the sixth chapter titled "Nuclear Tsunami: Fukushima."
Many Chinese readers are familiar with the name Puloki, whose books such as "Chernobyl: A Tragic History", "Europe's Gate: A History of Ukraine 2000", and "The Collapse of Great Powers: Before and After the Collapse of the Soviet Union" have attracted widespread attention. Born in Soviet-era Russia and raised in Ukraine, he focuses on the history of Eastern European thought, culture, and international relations.
The protracted Russian-Ukrainian military conflict, the turbulent situation in Eastern Europe, a series of controversies at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in the post-3.11 era, and Nolan's new film "Oppenheimer", which will be released in China recently, have put Pulokie's research and writings in the spotlight.
Halibut raised in a cesspool at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Fukushima, Japan, on January 30, 2023, local time. (Visual China/Photo)
Why pay attention to Chernobyl and Fukushima
In 1986, when the Chernobyl accident struck, Puloki lived less than 500 kilometers from the nuclear reactor, and although he was not directly affected at the time, his colleagues, relatives and even himself later developed symptoms of radiation sickness of varying degrees. So Puloki says he wrote Chernobyl as a historian and contemporary. He hopes to clarify for those who are concerned about this incident, what happened on that extraordinary night, and the days and nights after that, years and years, and hopes to restore the truth of this accident to give a wake-up call to contemporary people.
"I have focused on the thoughts, emotions, actions and experiences of ordinary people — managers and operators of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant — ... Trying to understand the impact of their work and living circumstances on their motivations. In doing so, I focused on a key feature of the Soviet management style, a top-down model that did not encourage initiative and independent action, but passivity, and the shift of responsibility to others. Puloki said.
Puloki criticized the Soviet tradition of secrecy and rigidity for contributing to the disaster and expansion. In a speech for the book, readers from different countries asked him the same question: "Did only the Soviet Union cover up the truth about the accident, and our government did not act similarly?" ”
Not knowing the answer, he continued to delve into, and the book "Atoms and Ashes" came up, in which Puloki recreated the history of six major nuclear accidents, including Chernobyl. The other five include:
In 1954, the United States tested the first hydrogen bomb in the Bravo Castle test, which exceeded the designer's expectations and polluted much of the Pacific Ocean; In 1957, a nuclear accident occurred in Kashithem, located near the Ural Mountains, in which the explosion of a tank of radioactive waste rendered large areas uninhabitable for generations; Just weeks after the Kishtym nuclear accident, the Wentskell nuclear power plant, eager to produce enough fuel for Britain's first hydrogen bomb, also suffered a nuclear leak, which affected a large area of the British coast; In 1979, an accident at the reactor at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in the United States forced more than 140,000 residents to temporarily leave their homes; Finally, there was the 2011 Fukushima nuclear power plant accident in Japan, which caused great panic.
The book's introduction, titled "Stealing Fire," reads: "A few years before the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, a statue of Prometheus was built in the city of Prypiat, where the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is located. Prometheus, the titan of Greek mythology, stole fire from the gods and gave it to humans. The statue is shocking, with Prometheus half-naked and half-kneeling, scattering a dancing tongue of fire into the air, symbolizing the power of man's victory over nature and taking away the secrets of cosmic creation and atomic structure from the gods.
"On the night of April 26, 1986, a reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded, triggering a devastating disaster. The 6-meter-tall statue survived, but was later moved to another location and its symbolism changed... It turns out that this Prometheus cannot control the fire he unleashes, and now it symbolizes not the victory of man over heaven, but the arrogance of mankind. ”
Accidents happen, and they will certainly happen again
The original English version of Atoms and Ashes was published by Norton Press in May 2022, and Chinese edition will be available soon. Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Oppenheimer's Biography Kay Bode said of Atoms and Ashes: "The prolific Shahiri Ploky wrote a six-part historical thriller that is essential reading for us politicians and ordinary citizens alike. We survived the nuclear age for three-quarters of a century, but this book is a sober reminder that accidents happen, and they will certainly happen again. ”
Pulloki recounted the Fukushima nuclear crisis in reportage: "Government officials remember that the night of March 14 was the most dramatic moment in the history of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant crisis. Early on the morning of the 15th, the explosion of reactor No. 4 became the most unexpected and tense incident in the accident, and it was also the last explosion in the nuclear power plant area. Fortunately, although the explosion damaged the reactor building, it did not damage the reactor itself. Although everyone fears a repeat of Chernobyl, perhaps because of people's concerns, there was no Chernobyl reactor explosion accident in Fukushima...
"The staff at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant have reached their limits, both physically and psychologically. On March 18, Yoshida informed TEPCO headquarters, "My employees work around the clock for eight days straight. They came to the accident site many times, regularly filled with water, inspected, and refueled. I can't expose them to more radiation. ’......
"By March 27, some of the nuclear sewage had flowed into the sea. On the 30th, at a video conference at TEPCO's headquarters, Yoshida said: "I can't help but feel like we're sitting still. He added, 'When I think of the falling water level, I feel like my heart will stop beating at any moment.' ’......”
After more than two decades, the two disasters resulted in similar numbers of refugees: "Although Japan's two restricted areas together are less than half the size of the Chernobyl exclusion zone (and a large part of them is marine), the area around Fukushima had a large permanent population before the accident and evacuated about 90,000 people." If you add those who leave voluntarily outside the two restricted zones, the total number of refugees from the nuclear disaster is about 150,000." In a sense, the long-term psychological trauma inflicted on the host countries by the two disasters is similar.
"In Professor Puloki's Fukushima story, we can see almost the same narrative as Chernobyl: the same neglect of the quality of nuclear power plant construction in order to catch up; ignoring possible technical flaws in order to sustain the myth of development; Put efficiency at the highest priority and keep security in the fluke of 'this doesn't have to happen.' When the accident occurred, the chaotic regulatory system, delayed decision-making process, and cover-up of the severity of the accident also gradually caused the expansion of the disaster. Chen Ye, the editor-in-charge of Atoms and Ashes, told Southern Weekend that "nuclear accidents have nothing to do with ideology and social systems, and covering up the truth is not the exclusive preserve of a government, and people naturally don't like bad news." ”
After Fukushima sparked anti-nuclear noises
Ploki is not a radical author, but gives perplexing advice: "Any new accident is bound to give rise to a new anti-nuclear movement." Although large accidents are regional and occur within the jurisdiction of a given country, the consequences of accidents must be international. Even if radioactive plumes (plumes containing radioactive material) do not cross borders, information can spread globally, provoking political and cultural protests and anti-nuclear movements. If a new accident occurs, the development of the nuclear industry will be stalled for at least another two decades, and all hopes of stopping climate change with nuclear power generation will be dashed. Not only is the nuclear industry operationally risky, but it is also not a long-term solution to some of its challenges.
"Today, nuclear power generates more than 10% of the world's electricity and produces almost zero carbon emissions. If we abandon this part of nuclear power and fill the gap with fossil fuels, more greenhouse gases will be produced, and we cannot afford that. Nor can we leave the economically troubled nuclear industry behind, which will only hasten the next nuclear accident. ”
In Japan and throughout East Asia, the anti-nuclear outcry of progressive intellectuals provoked by Fukushima has never stopped. When Sakamoto lived in Tokyo and New York, he refused to use nuclear power and had to pay higher electricity bills. Kazuyo Muto, a Japanese thinker and activist born in 1931, is much sharper than Uraōki, writing in "Living Ruins: The Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant – From the Atomic Bombing": "We have to admit that there is a certain 'living' will in the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, which is still releasing radioactive material... This will, under the unified control of the nuclear power plant system, has been veiled with clean energy and a promise for a better future. We are constantly told that without nuclear power plants, it is impossible to withstand the massive consumption of electricity, there can be no convenient energy sources, and there can be no prosperity, and we – the majority of society – accept that statement. Now, nuclear power plants have become a vicious devil that causes infinite pollution to the environment, continues to infringe on human life, and cannot be easily killed, and its true nature and origin have been exposed. ”
Muto's goal is not only to criticize Tepco and the Japanese government, but also to "unconditionally abolish nuclear power plants." His article was included in the book "Fukushima/Spokeshima: A Decade of Retrospective Questioning" published in China in 2021.
Scholar Sun Ge analyzed about the Fukushima nuclear crisis: "When a disaster is over, the crowd is always divided into two categories: rapid oblivion and refusal to forget, the latter is always a minority... Getting out of the crisis and returning to normalcy is the self-preservation instinct of human beings, but after major events that are difficult to eliminate after the sequelae, it seems that it is necessary to think and question the rapid return to the original state: Does this recovery contain the true form of the hidden crisis and cover it up with false normality? Normal thinking dominates people, making people no longer have analytical skills in the face of crises, but tend to recycle crises into their familiar cognitive frameworks. In this case, the crisis, the most effective medium for understanding history and entering history, is also difficult to help people reverse the existing inertia of thinking, so it is easy for us to pass by this opportunity. ”
Whether in the face of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011, the discharge of contaminated water into the sea starting in 2023, or other disasters and crises, people may need to wonder if they are still relying on mental inertia to recycle it into their familiar cognitive frameworks. Do you forget while repeating your preconceived beliefs?
Southern Weekend reporter Li Heng
Editor-in-charge: Liu Youxiang