IWAKI, Fukushima Prefecture--Youngsters were jumping for joy with the July 15 reopening of Yotsukura beach here, closed these past two-plus years due to the nuclear disaster triggered by the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami.
IWAKI, Fukushima Prefecture--Youngsters were jumping for joy with the July 15 reopening of Yotsukura beach here, closed these past two-plus years due to the nuclear disaster triggered by the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami.
The reactor meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co., closed all beaches in Fukushima.
Yotsukura is the second local beach to reopen following Nakoso beach that city authorities deemed was safe last summer.
Families and young people flocked to the beach on opening day.
According to an official of Fukushima Prefecture, no radioactive materials were found in the surrounding seawater during a check on July 3.
Eri Komatsu, 16, a second-year student at senior high school, visited the beach with three of her mates from her volleyball club during their junior high school days.
Komatsu moved here from Hirono which is close to the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. She said, “I cannot swim at the beach in my hometown.”
She added that she hoped to be back there soon.