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Fukushima nuclear disaster and water release
Asia

Into the exclusion zone: a scientist’s visit to Fukushima’s radioactive soil

A graphic tale of ‘cavalier’ investigation

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A waterlogged family photo album left behind in the town of Namie, Japan on Fukushima's tsunami-ravaged coast. Photo: AP
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The unfamiliar dial tone gives way to the voice of Subrata Ghoshroy, a contributor to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists famous for setting the Doomsday Clock. Ghoshroy is in Calcutta, but he seems to travel a lot, having been on a recent visit to areas left vacant since the March 2011 Fukushima meltdowns.
“To be frank we were a little bit, ah, cavalier about it because these areas indeed were contaminated, remain contaminated,” he told the Post.
Subrata Ghoshroy at a compression plant. Photo: Lucas Wirl
Subrata Ghoshroy at a compression plant. Photo: Lucas Wirl

“There was some risk of course, but we were there for a relatively short time, so the cumulative exposure was probably pretty small,” he added.

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He knows his radioactive stuff. Ghoshroy worked on the comprehensive test ban treaty among other policy areas, and for 20 years he worked on high energy lasers as an engineer and manager.

READ MORE: The Fukushima story

So his visit to the Fukushima exclusion zones can be explained as a professional curiosity. Here is his edited story with, art by Hongkonger Angela Ho.

Journey through a disaster zone

Like Hiroshima, the name Fukushima became synonymous with the horrors that can befall a nation from uncontrolled atomic chain reactions. I travelled to Japan for a meeting of the Japan Scientists’ Association in Yokohama, near Tokyo, where the group was expected to announce a major change: a shift from its pro-nuclear energy position to opposing the restart of reactors in Japan.

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