This type of flower was planted in the areas of some nuclear accidents such as Chernobyl in 1986 and Fukushima in 2011 and is believed to absorb radiation.
Thousands of sunflowers are planted in areas affected by major nuclear disasters. This was the case, for example, around Chernobyl after the 1986 explosion or in Fukushima after the 2011 tsunami that damaged power plants on Japan’s east coast. A few months after the explosion of the three nuclear reactors in the Land of the Rising Sun, Koyu Abe, head monk of the nearby Joenji Buddhist temple explained to Reuters that they planted “sunflowers, field mustard, amaranth and cockscomb” because “they are believed to absorb radiation”. To confirm this theory is also the science with some research that led to the sowing of this species of flowers even after the accident of the ’80s.
Why are sunflowers sown after a nuclear disaster
In Fukushima, shortly after the nuclear disaster, were grown more than 200 thousand plants from which were born at least 8 million sunflowers. According to scientific research, this flower has the ability to clean up radioactive waste and, for this reason, they were also planted following the worst accident in the history of nuclear power in Chernobyl in 1986. “Sunflowers are really good at absorbing certain radioactive isotopes,” explained scientist Michael Blaylock.
This type of plant has a whole host of practical properties that make them ideal for cleaning up harmful nuclear elements. The flowers grow quickly and virtually anywhere, and they also store most of their biomass in their leaves and stems. This allows absorbed radioactive material to be disposed of without having to uproot. The process that uses plants to remove toxins from the environment is called phytoremediation and was a huge success in Chernobyl where, following the explosion, loads of radioactive elements of cesium and strontium had been released into the soil and water of the surrounding areas.
The process works because the isotopes “mimic” nutrients that the sunflower would naturally absorb: cesium mimics potassium, which plants need for photosynthesis, and strontium emulates calcium, which provides them with structural support. According to Balylock, phytoremediation “has been very effective for water,” while for soil it would be more complicated to work. This would explain the failure of phytoremediation at Fukushima, where no plant could be found to effectively reduce radioactive isotope levels in the soil. Blaylock pointed out, however, that the Chernobyl and Fukushima environments are very different and that, in any case, the phytoremediation process in Ukraine took several years.
The topic of nuclear power is often debated around the world and if some states are holding back, in others research and technologies are multiplying with major entrepreneurs who are funding new projects, such as Jeff Bezos who has subsidized General Fusion in the creation of a pilot nuclear plant with the aim of creating clean and cheap energy.
Stefania Bernardini