Like something out of a science fiction novel, Japan is considering a permanent “buffer zone" around the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant where residents will no longer be allowed to live.
Like something out of a science fiction novel, Japan is considering a permanent “buffer zone" around the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant where residents will no longer be allowed to live.
Rebuilding minister Tatsuo Hirano outlined the idea when he met with the heads of local governments in Fukushima Prefecture, including Futaba Mayor Katsutaka Idogawa, on April 3.
“At issue is whether we can allow people to live close to the plant,” Idogawa quoted Hirano as saying. “We think something like a buffer area will be necessary.”
The no-man’s land, probably encompassing a several-kilometer radius from the Fukushima No. 1 plant, is being considered due to safety concerns. For example, radiation levels as high as 73 sieverts per hour were detected in the No. 2 reactor’s containment vessel at the end of March.
Idogawa backed Hirano’s proposal.
“I have been wondering whether people should be allowed to live near the plant on the grounds that radiation levels have fallen,” he said.
Toshitsuna Watanabe, mayor of Okuma in Fukushima Prefecture, also supported the idea.
“It is necessary to think about (such a zone), considering the current situation,” he said.
Fukushima Governor Yuhei Sato also attended the meeting, held at the Reconstruction Agency in Tokyo.
The government is reorganizing evacuation areas around the Fukushima No. 1 plant into three zones and expects to allow residents to return some day.
The new “no-return zone” would be set up separately, in part to establish specific measures to support evacuees who will never be able to return to their homes, according to Reconstruction Agency officials.
At least five years will be required before evacuees can return to one of the three zones, “the no-entry zone,” where radiation levels exceed 50 millisieverts per year.
It is expected to take less than five years before people can return to “the no-residence zone,” where radiation levels are between 20 and 50 millisieverts per year. Evacuees are expected to be able to return sooner to the third zone with an annual radiation level of 20 millisieverts or less. That is called “the zone being prepared to have the evacuation order lifted.”