Chernobyl and Fukushima: side by side
30 years after Chernobyl and 5 years after Fukushima, the towns ruined forever by nuclear.
Pripyat in northern Ukraine was a young and promising town.
Established in 1970 it had all the markers of a great place to raise a
family by Soviet standards - schools, recreation center, swimming pool,
hospital and gainful employment at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.
There was even an amusement park that was due to open. Already a
ferris wheel, bumper cars, and merry go round were in place causing a
giddy feeling of anticipation for the thousands of children and
families.
But on 26 April 1986 disaster struck, and in the following days the entire city of about 50,000 was evacuated.
Fast-forward 25 years and to the other side of the world is the town
of Namie in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. With a population of almost
20,000 its economy was dependent on commercial fishing, agriculture and
food processing.
On March 11 2011, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake followed by a tsunami rocked the entire prefecture, causing the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.
Three reactors at the power plant, owned by Tokyo Electric Power
Company (TEPCO) went into meltdown, contaminating everything within at
least a 20km radius and beyond.
Like Pripyat, Namie was immediately abandoned. It was just 5-15 km north of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.
The lives of the people living in those towns, and all around Chernobyl
and Fukushima, have been changed forever. Both of these nuclear
accidents have put populations at both physical and mental harm,
permanently displaced large populations, torn apart community
relationships, and left survivors stressed by their chronic exposure to
radiation.
Data: 09.03.2016
Fonte: www.greenpeace.org
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