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The government on Wednesday lifted its evacuation advisory for part of the town of Kawauchi which lies within 20 kilometers of the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
Environment Ministry officials said that radiation cleanup has concluded in the eastern part of the town, NTV reported.
Prior to the March 11, 2011 nuclear disaster, Kawauchi's population was 3,000.
The Environment Ministry has designated 11 municipalities as no-go zones since the disaster. Nobody has been allowed to live in the zones again yet, though the government has allowed day visits to homes and businesses in some areas after initial decontamination efforts.
The decontamination work for most of the towns has fallen behind schedule due to the government's failure to secure space for waste disposal.
The government hopes to restore lost communities in some areas around the plant, but challenges remain in ensuring food safety and job security.
So far, only about 48 people out of 274 registered residents have indicated they are planning to return to live in the village, officials said.
© Japan Today
17 Comments
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Papi2013
I didn't know you can clean up large swaths of areas with radiation fallouts. But I guess it's possible only in Japan. It's all cleaned up folks. Now you can all go back in, everything's safe now.
Ms. Alexander
So they cleaned up the area. Doesn't that just mean that there are no obvious debris left from the earthquake/tsunami? They couldn't have possibly gotten rid of the radiation. I mean, the plant itself isn't contained yet. How can the area be radiation-free?
GOJ...Slowly intentionally killing off its people...
harvey pekar
Oh. My. God. Look at this article about how Chernobyl, many many years ago and hundreds and hundreds of kilometers away, still affects the food and livestock today!
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/chernobyl-disaster-leaves-radioactive-wild-boars-roaming-germany-n193596
And now you're telling me, three years later, Fukushima is safe to live, farm, and sell seafood from? I thought no govt could be worse than my home country's, I was wrong.
warispeace
Was this so-called cleanup like the efforts in Fukushima-shi. There I saw pictures where they were having people dig holes in their yards or in parks to bury topsoil?
Utrack
What are the radiation levels exactly?? Because like the previous commentors have stated it's a lot on the impossible side especially with Fukushima Daiichi not being entombed like Chernobyl is and being less than 20 kilometers away for it to be fine and dandy to live there... I think this goes under human atrocity and should be in court ....GOJ can move there instead of being in Tokyo while they are making all of these dangerous decisions with people's lives
overchan
The difference between chernovyl and fukushima is that Chernovyl released 6 to 7 times more radiation. Adding that In Chernovyl they just poured concrete ajd in Fukushima there're thousands of people working in the plant decomission
FightingViking
...and let's not forget the "cleaning-up" team who just dumped everything into the streams and rivers...
Per Christer Lund
Finally the government are coming to their senses and doing the right thing - stand up to the ridiculous fear mongering and let the population return to their lives. So far there has been no scientifically significant proof of any health impact from the Fukushima accident, but plenty from stress due to the evacuation.
Disillusioned
This is not the only area the government has failed. The only thing I see coming from this is, because these areas have been deemed livable the residents are no longer gonna be eligible for compensation. Yeah, I'm sure many of the elderly would like to return to their ancestral homes, but I'm damn sure I wouldn't be taking my kids back into the exclusion zone. This is the main area the government has failed. These people should be given a choice of returning to their homes or being paid sufficient compensation to resettle in another area. It's absolutely criminal what the J-Gov is doing to these people. It's, go home or get nothing!
nath
I don't think its a good idea to go live there.
GW
This is fracked up on SO many levels its way way beyond ridiculous!
As I & many have said since 3/11 this idea of "cleaning" up radiation is so idiotic it just defies belief! And the costs..........WTF!
Clearly it would be MUCH cheaper to move people and build them HUGE houses on big plots for a fraction of the costs of this supposed cleanup.............truly sickening!
Way to go Japan you make the yakuza etc rich & steal from the masses..............this is off the charts stupidity & its set to continue indefinitely!
overchan
Time to buy cheap land in japan
Genki/Flash
If the government believes it's safe to move back into this area, I think as a sign of good faith they should move their offices and homes to this area, I mean it's safe right?! We all know this would never happen. It was just a thought!
bruinfan
I wish that the former TEPCO president, Shimizu would be made to live their for 5 years.
Fadamor
Nobody is telling you that Fukushima is safe. The article merely said the evacuation advisory has been lifted. The article ALSO states that:
...so tell me WHO is it that you think is telling you that Fukushima is safe? The government is acknowledging there's still safety issues, so it obviously wasn't them telling you this.
Reading for comprehension... ALWAYS a good idea!