Nuclear power had been born out of war and the rush to develop an atomic weapon to win the war. The Manhattan Project succeeded in leading to the atomic bomb and then leading to various countries finding that "controlled fission" could be used for the generation of power. It worked in generating power, but all of it came with multiple risks and monitoring. For if anything happened to the reactors or the cooling systems or anything else that was connected to controlling the reaction could lead to either the release of radioactive particles into the air, ground, and water near the plant and this could last for years in places. And on Heiya Island, Manami often keep track of a lot of the news that related to this while in her free time from her work running the nursing staff at the Horizon Light Hospital on the island.
A lot of this came from her relationship with her husband, a massive Wolf Animalian who had also survived the American atomic bomb strikes of World War 2. Before his conversion, she'd looked after him as a nurse at the senior center that he'd been living at, but he'd ultimately accepted the idea to convert on Heiya Island. From there, the two of them found desires and romance blooming after husband regained his youth in becoming a Wolf Animalian. That lead to Manami's own conversion and becoming a very statuesque female Wolf Animalian and including the present expansion of their family, as her womb was now pushing forward with their pups, who were due in September. They'd had some conversations on names, that often related to people that her husband knew when he was younger and before his conversion.
Though, her work with the hospital in running the nursing staff and providing some help for Horizon's conversion services and other programs still kept her busy. And as the summer continued on, Horizon's ability to market the Animalia Virus as a cure all to just about every malady that was out there came into play, and of late, playing to things that came from problems presented by nuclear power. For radiation exposure, even if not immediately lethal, could still cause all sorts of other health problems for people that could be costly. Much of this came from cancers that had developed from survivors from the Chernobyl disaster in the Soviet Union and more recently, the Fukushima disaster. Interestingly, Manami had found in news reports that scientists had used lessons learned from what had happened at Chernobyl to help try and deal with what had happened at the Fukushima plant after an earthquake and then tidal wave had hit it.
In pure theory, Horizon's various projects would have easily allowed for conversions earlier for survivors from the Fukushima disaster, but Manami had found that many had chosen not to convert earlier because of the various rules against pets that some apartments had that would be difficult for Animalians, and particularly those that were mammals, as they would have fur just as most pets did. Things like Covid and other issues then hampered travel and contact between those survivors and Heiya Island to make that offer safer until a full on Animalian workable apartment complex could be provided in Japan's home islands. Now, though, a lot of that contact was restored and with some things opening up, Manami was free to work the related business on dealing with the conversions of those that wanted to convert. Not all, or even most of those from area around Fukushima came, but Manami was pleased to meet the five that did come.
"You're all looking quite well... given everything," Manami said to them and managed a smile, "and shortly, you'll be free of all the cancer and other worries that were there, and you'll be welcome here."
"Your bond mate... is it true?" one man asked, "He survived Nagasaki?"
"Yes," Manami nodded, "and became a very hunky Wolf Animalian when he converted. But he's been helping Ammy and the Spirit Council with the colony's governance and with some other complaints at this time."
"Complaints?!" one woman asked, with a kerchief tied over her head to hold back thinning black hair, "someone would complain about being an Animalian?"
"Not about being an Animalian," Manami answered, "there are apparently some women from another part of the country that are... kind of... "Overly blessed" in certain departments, if you know what I mean. Whole "possessed by cow demons" thing. Ammy, my husband, and a couple of Dinotopians have gone to meet with them that their condition isn't caused by demons or anything like that, and that while becoming an Animalian wouldn't make them "small," it would help those that are dealing with it. A whole sort of counseling to get them to accept the conversion and that things will be okay."
Manami noted that the five looked a bit more relaxed at that. Most of them were male, but there were two women, and she assumed that they had either worked at the Fukushima plant or had lived close enough to the plant to have been affected by the disaster that came after the earthquake and tsunami, and had experienced the forms of cancer that often came as a result of the sort of radioactive contamination that had only been seen with survivors of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War 2 or other disasters involving nuclear power plants. Treatment had improved greatly since 1945, but that didn't mean it was easy, which again came back to Horizon's Project Phoenix.
"And if we become Animalians..." the second man asked, "would we become massive wolves like your husband, Tsuku?"
"If a Wolf is the specific species of Animalian you wish to become, that is what you would be," Manami answered, chuckling a little bit at the abbreviation of the nickname her husband had gained. His darker fur contrasted with Ammy's and lead to him being associated with the Shinto God of the Moon, Tsukuyomi.
"No... I mean, would be as BIG as he is?" the second man asked, "the news reports from here have shown some marked difference between him and the Wolf Animalians in Lyre/Animalia in the US. He seems bigger..."
"And you seem bigger than the female Wolf Animalians there," one of the women added, and then noticed Manami's hand resting on the swell of her womb, "regardless of your pregnancy."
"Ah," Manami said slowly, "well... Horizon has noted that those exposed radioactive particles in some ways have often proved to be bigger than other Animalians, though, they'd still be most compared to their own species of Animalians. Thus, a Wolf Animalian, like my husband, would be bigger than other Wolf Animalians, but would still be smaller than the Leopard, Jaguar, Lion, and Tiger Animalians."
"And your size? Were you..." the second woman asked.
Manami paused and then flexed her biceps for a moment before answering, "I wasn't exposed to radiation... Horizon thinks my size has more to do with who converted me. But Horizon has noted no defects or issues that would be negatives for Animalians. So... you would all be given not only a new chance at life but with perfect health."
There were some smiles at that, and Manami was pleased to see that. From there, she went about helping each of the five people fill out the appropriate forms that Horizon had for conversions. On Heiya Island, those forms were framed to work with regard to Japanese law and requirements, but to a degree these sorts of forms were pretty standard regardless of the country. The first man signed up to be an Ussuri Brown Bear. The second signed up to be a Red Crowned Crane. The third signed up to be a Giant Panda. The first woman signed up to be a Hokkaido-Inu. The second woman signed up to be a Kiso-Uma. This process went fairly well and Manami soon noted the main Horizon scientist in residence on Heiya Island coming into view. As each of the volunteers finished the paperwork, Manami took them to the Horizon scientist and things would then proceed from there. She figured that things would be great for them as things moved forward.