No one can forget the devastating Fukushima disaster of 2011. On 11 March, Japan was hit by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake which generated a tsunami along the coast, leaving 18,500 people dead. The tsunami hit the Daaichi nuclear power plant producing a level-7 catastrophe – the equivalent of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant meltdown.
Over the past five years, nearly 50,000 people have worked to decontaminate the plant and stop leaks. They remove between 5 and 30 cm of contaminated soil every day and place them in plastic bags, which are stored on the outskirts of town, pending a better solution. It’s a very delicate (and hazardous) process.
Despite it all, surfers continue to paddle out daily at Tairatoyoma beach, a mere 50 kilometres from the nuclear plant, even though radiation remains in the water, sand, and within the hundreds of contaminated sand bags piled on the beach.
"I put on sunscreen against the sun, but I haven't found anything against radiation," one surfer told Al Jazeera.
The Tairatoyoma locals say the beach was once popular for its white sands but the tsunami washed this sand away. Now, a concrete wall offers protection against the waves and “Restricted Area” warn visitors of the health risks in the region.
“I come to Tairatoyoma beach and surf several times a week,” says one local. “It’s my passion. I can’t stop surfing.”
But is it really worth risking it for a few waves?
An employee from the nuclear power plant told reporters that he’d never swim at Tairatoyoma beach because the water is too contaminated – five of his friends who work at the plant now suffer from brain damage.
However, it’s harder to sway the opinion of the local surfing community. "We will only know the true consequences of our time in the water 20 years from now," says one local still hell bent on sticking to his daily ritual.
