Only because of qualified actions of station workers, it was managed to avoid the huge human losses. Just one person has died during the repair of the damaged reactors. The scale of an accident was surprising even for experienced professionals. Initially, an area within a radius of 3 kilometers from the station was declared dangerous, and after a few hours, the radiation spread within the radius of 10 km. Today, there is a high background radiation even at a distance of 320 km from the power plant. Fukushima-1 remains the epicenter of the disaster. This is where the radiation level is the highest.
Continuous cleaning works on its territory do not stop after the accident. Experts note that it will take at least 40 years for full recovery. Currently, the main danger for the residents of the surrounding areas is a leak of radioactive water from the plant, which began to wash over the underground barriers. It’s difficult to monitor the situation even after the construction of new storage facilities. A huge amount of contaminated water can cause a new catastrophe.
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