“In a few minutes, we can die”: François-Xavier Ménage recounts his report in the Fukushima red zone

An exceptional document which immerses us in the devastated region around the Fukushima power plant. Senior reporter at TF1, François-Xavier Ménage was able to penetrate “in the most dangerous place in the world“, in the immediate vicinity of the Japanese nuclear power plant, destroyed during the 2011 tsunami on the northeast coast of the country. After “months and months of negotiations” to be authorized to film, he was able to once again discover ghost towns in the area, emptied of all inhabitants. In places, some still end up returning to their places of life, despite the still high levels of irradiation present.

The journalist, who already published a book in 2016 on the consequences of the disaster (“Fukushima, the poison is still flowing”, ed. Flammarion), returns for TF1info behind the scenes of this exceptional new report produced for 8 p.m., to be found in full at the top of this article.

TF1info: You were one of the first journalists to arrive on site in Fukushima in 2011, immediately after the tsunami. You've been back there many times. Today, in 2024, what feeling prevails when returning once again to the scene of the nuclear disaster?

François-Xavier Ménage: It is, if you think about it, the most dangerous place in the world, since there are specific places in the power plant where, if you stay more than a few minutes, you can die. There is a sort of hyper-radioactive magma weighing 800 tonnes underground and we still don't know how we are going to treat it. For the moment, in recent weeks they have succeeded in extracting the equivalent of a grape which will be analyzed for months, perhaps even years, so that we can then say to ourselves, this is how we will be able to treat the thing.

So, that means that this dismantling project will take decades and decades to come. Tepco, the site operator, explains that it has set aside 60 billion euros. So far, he has spent around 15 billion euros, but the bill will probably be even higher. And they do not know the absolute dangerousness of this magma, it being understood that even drones and robots, when they approach, are generally electrocuted and can no longer respond.

A “red zone” which finds some of its inhabitants

Beyond extracting the most radioactive elements from the nuclear power plant, how is the rest of the decontamination organized?

Water was used to cool the reactors, some of which melted. These are astronomical quantities, the equivalent of hundreds and hundreds of Olympic swimming pools in which there is contaminated water. The question is: now, what do we do with this water? In fact, for over a year, water has been released into the ocean. The Japanese authorities assure that it is done with fully regulatory international safety standards.

The fishermen we saw told us: “anyway, whatever happens, when we catch fish from this pond, we don't want much of our fish so they buy it from us for very little money”. This issue has become a geopolitical battle. The Chinese explain that they no longer want to import fish from Japan. So, there is a battle which is both geopolitical and health.

You were able to meet residents who are returning to live in the region of the nuclear disaster. What did they tell you?

When the power plant explodes, there is a “red zone” which is demarcated and lots of towns which are, in a few hours, emptied of their inhabitants. And over time, year after year, they have cleaned up the sensitive areas, and the Japanese authorities consider that this is enough to return. But in the towns around Fukushima which have been able to reopen, those who return are mainly elderly people. And we have met some who say: “I’m over 70, I’m over 80, my health is not very serious”.

In cities that are still prohibited, it's crazy to see to what extent nature has regained all its rights

François-Xavier Ménage, senior reporter at TF1

For the youngest, it still continues to be a marker. There are some who refuse to come when others return. And in the cities that are still prohibited, it's crazy to see to what extent nature has regained all its rights. We only hear the animals, whereas before, these were towns which, sometimes, had several thousand inhabitants. Today they are completely ghostly places which, for some, have not been touched. There are houses still intact, because the owners have not been found. And so, the Japanese do not destroy houses until we can get in touch with their owners for reasons of respect, but also for compensation.

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Japan has restarted most of its nuclear reactors in recent years. This summer, the authorities also restarted a reactor at the country's most powerful power plant, Kashiwazaki-Kariwa. How has the opinion of the Japanese population evolved on the nuclear issue?

The trauma is still there. But then, there is the principle of reality… The energy bill is obviously very important for the Japanese, with economic principles which mean that the authorities have said “we restart the machine”. But for all that, and this is where we have to be very nuanced, I think that there is still a trauma which is enormous among many, many, many residents. We heard a lot of anti-nuclear voices after the disaster. The prime minister at the time, Naoto Kan, became fiercely anti-nuclear. But those who are in charge today are much less so.