Some Fukushima residents will finally be allowed to return home 10 years after nuclear disaster. About 2.4 per cent of prefectural land is said to be still contaminated. Japan will lift the evacuation order for a Fukushima village on 12 June, allowing some of the residents to return home almost a decade after it was deemed off limits following the 2011 nuclear disaster. Authorities have decided to end the “difficult-to-return” zone designation assigned to a 0.95sqkm area in the northeastern village of Katsurao, which will allow the region to host permanent residents. In 2011, all residents of Katsurao village were ordered to evacuate after a massive earthquake and tsunami triggered a nuclear disaster in Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, killing nearly 20,000 people, in one of Japan’s worst nuclear disasters. About 160,000 people were forced to leave their homes after it was contaminated with radioactive fallout and designated as unsafe for living.
Independent 17th May 2022 read more »
Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority on Wednesday endorsed a plan to discharge treated water stored at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the sea. The plan to release the low-level radioactive water starting around next spring will be officially approved after the regulator hears submissions from the public. The plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co. Holdings, will need to gain consent from municipalities hosting the power complex to start construction of the water discharge facilities. Local fishery groups remain opposed to the plan over concern about reputational damage to their industry and consumer fears about the safety of the fish they catch.
Nikkei Asia 18th May 2022 read more »