Both after the terrible Chernobyl disaster and after the Fukushima disaster, millions of sunflowers were planted, but what is the reason behind planting these plants after a nuclear disaster ?
The reason sunflowers are always planted after a nuclear disaster
The answer to the question we ask ourselves is relatively simple since apparently, these beautiful flowers that are sunflowers have excellent abilities against radiation. But what is the reason for such ability?
“We planted sunflowers, field mustard, amaranth and cockscomb, which are believed to absorb radiation, ” Koyu Abe, head monk of the Joenji Buddhist Temple, once told Reuters months after the Fukushima disaster. “So far we have grown at least 200,000 flowers and distributed many more seeds. Since the disaster, at least 8 million sunflowers have been blooming in Fukushima .
Apparently after what happened in 2011 in Fukushima, several studies had been analyzed that highlighted the ability of sunflowers to “absorb” radiation or rather to “trap” radioactive isotopes, something that had already been discovered after the nuclear accident in Chernobyl which was also filled with these plants.
The “phytoremediation” technique after a nuclear disaster
Replanting with sunflowers after a nuclear disaster is a natural technique called “phytoremediation” in which some plants are used that are capable of extracting heavy metals and inducing the degradation of compounds in contaminated soils . So planting sunflowers in Chernobyl worked.
After the disaster, in fact, the soil and water were loaded with radioactive elements , such as cesium and strontium. These two elements are very “similar” to the substances on which the sunflower feeds: cesium mimics potassium and strontium mimics calcium; elements that the plant uses respectively for photosynthesis and as structural support.
In addition, sunflowers are very practical to use and are ideal for “nuclear cleanup” jobs. The reason is simple: they grow quickly, easily and everywhere. More importantly, they store most of their biomass in leaves and stems, so radioactive material absorbed by plants can be removed without having to pull out the roots.
For these reasons, sunflowers are the best plants or flowers capable of absorbing radiation or carrying out this natural process of phytoremediation, although they are not the only ones. There are many other flowers that may be able to carry out the same process, but after years of tests, it was concluded that because sunflowers are larger they are undoubtedly the most effective to carry out the entire process.
