Fukushima

Town hosting stricken Fukushima No. 1 plant bans residents from returning for five more years

The assembly of one of the towns hosting the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant approved a reconstruction plan Friday that assumes none of its residents will be allowed to go home for at least the next five years.

Japan Times,

22 September 2012

"We had aimed to let residents to return home soon, but the radiation levels are too high and we had to make a tough decision," Okuma Mayor Toshitsuna Watanabe told reporters in the city of Aizuwakamatsu, where Okuma transferred all of its municipal operations.

The town basically became ground zero for the nuclear disaster when the poorly protected Tokyo Electric Power Co. plant was drawn into multiple core meltdowns by the earthquake and tsunami last March.

The reconstruction plan calls for dividing the town into three evacuation zones depending on radiation level. Although residents in two of the three zones are allowed to return, 95 percent of Okuma's population lived in the hottest zone, which will be off-limits for a long time.

In the end, the assembly decided to keep everyone out because even if the 5 percent with permission to return do so, the radiation will make it extremely difficult for them to live normal lives, sources said.

Okuma will be the sixth of the 11 Fukushima municipalities ordered to evacuate during the nuclear crisis to shift to the new zoning regime.