Photo Credit: Arkadiusz Podniesinski
A stunning new photo project by Arkadiusz Podniesinski recently revealed never-seen-before images offering unprecedented insight into the wild and desolate exclusion zone surrounding the Fukushima nuclear power plant – where tonnes of contaminated soil lie untouched and overgrown forest is engulfing hundreds of abandoned vehicles and homes.
Many vehicles now lie almost completely covered by the forest.
The 12.5-mile exclusion zone around the nuclear plant now resembles post-apocalyptic scenes from The Walking Dead after it was instantly abandoned following the 2011 nuclear disaster. People deserted the area after warnings of dangerous levels of radioactivity, leaving cars, classrooms and libraries to be swallowed by the overgrown wilderness in striking scenes reminiscent of those seen in the show, in which entire towns have been left in stasis after zombies overran the planet.
When Podniesinski obtained permits to enter the area, he said he was confronted with a scene similar to one from a post apocalyptic film, writing on his website, “It is not earthquakes or tsunami that are to blame for the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station, but humans.”
He explained that he undertook the project so that he could draw his “own conclusions without being influenced by any media sensation, government propaganda, or nuclear lobbyists who are trying to play down the effects of the disaster, and pass on the information obtained to as wider a public as possible.”
This image below of a dining table with portable cookers ready to prepare food appears that it was left that way in a hurry.
The earthquake that started the tsunami damaged buildings like this one below.
A stack of contaminated televisions lie in a heap among the overgrown forests and abandoned buildings near Fukushima.
An empty arcade-
“Nuclear energy is the energy of a bright future,” this sign reads.
