The government decided to lift its advisory for certain areas around the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, a move that was welcomed by municipalities but also caused confusion among local leaders.
The government decided to lift its advisory for certain areas around the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, a move that was welcomed by municipalities but also caused confusion among local leaders.
The actual lifting of the advisory for the first time will come as early as September for areas that are designated as "emergency evacuation preparation zones," which lie between 20 and 30 kilometers from the nuclear plant. Annual accumulated radiation is not expected to reach 20 millisieverts in those areas, but residents there are instructed to take action if another emergency occurs at the plant.
The zones are spread over five municipalities: Hirono, Naraha, Kawauchi, Tamura and Minami-Soma.
The decision to lift the designation was made Aug. 9 by the government's nuclear emergency response headquarters, headed by Prime Minister Naoto Kan, after members judged that the damaged nuclear reactors now present only a low level of risk.
"This will be the first step toward our return to the village," said Yuko Endo, mayor of Kawauchi.
Children, pregnant women, those in need of nursing care and hospitalized patients are instructed to evacuate from the designated zones. Others are instructed to prepare to evacuate or to remain indoors.
About 25,000 of the 58,500 residents whose homes are within these zones currently live outside the designated areas.
Tadahiro Matsushita, senior vice minister of economy, trade and industry, visited the municipal governments involved on Aug. 7 and asked them to draw up restoration plans by early September, according to sources. The plans include the order in which the evacuees should return, decontamination measures and schedules on when schools will resume classes.
The advisory for the zones will be lifted after all five municipalities have drawn up their plans.
But Mayor Endo says the municipal governments are being unfairly burdened with all of the restoration tasks.
"I feel very much displeased. I want the central government to make clear who is supposed to be responsible," Endo argued.
A municipal government official who attended one of the meetings with Matsushita echoed those sentiments.
"I thought they were trying to put everything on our shoulders," the official said.
Local leaders are also at a loss on which areas should be decontaminated and what levels of radioactivity should prompt such clean-up measures.
"Decontamination will be a long-term effort. The central government should present basic ideas," the official said.
The government headquarters on Aug. 9 also decided to allow evacuated residents to temporarily visit their homes within a 3-km radius of the Fukushima No. 1 plant as early as in late August.
It was difficult to allow those visits to take place during the Bon holiday season in mid-August, when people traditionally return to their hometowns to honor the souls of their ancestors and family members, sources said.