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Residents Drift Back But
Radiation Worries Persist
Fukushima Nuclear Crisis
EMF Computer Protection
Magnetic Field Detector
April 18 2012
Justin McCurry
KAWAUCHI: A Japanese village located in the shadow of the
Fukushima nuclear plant has welcomed back its youngest
residents with music, applause and speeches, but not a
single reference to radiation, as it took a cautious first
step towards post-meltdown normality.
Teachers and parents fought back tears when pupils from the
local schools began a new term recently, more than a year
after the nuclear accident forced them out of their homes.
While workers at the plant struggle to contain thousands of
tonnes of radioactive water and begin a decommissioning
operation expected to last decades, the government has
lifted evacuation orders in three places just outside the
20-kilometre no-go zone.
In the coming weeks, 16,000 of the more than 100,000 people
displaced by the nuclear crisis could be able to return to
their old neighbourhoods, although they will not be allowed
to stay overnight until their homes have been
decontaminated.
But residents of eight other towns and villages located
wholly or partially inside the evacuation zone have little
idea if they will be able to return. The minister in charge
of tsunami reconstruction, Tatsuo Hirano, has hinted that a
permanent nuclear ''buffer zone'' could be created around
the plant due to the persistent threat from radioactive
water leaks.
The government is in a race against time to approve the
restart of two reactors and possibly determine the fate of
the country's nuclear power industry.
Only one of 54 reactors in Japan is in service - and that is
due to join the others for regular maintenance checks on May
5.
No reactors will restart until they pass stress tests -
designed to gauge their ability to withstand catastrophic
events such as a tsunami and introduced after the triple
meltdown at Fukushima Daiichi power plant in March last
year.
Failure to restart the reactors at Oi plant in Fukui
prefecture will force Japan to endure a long, humid summer,
when electricity demand peaks, without a single nuclear
reactor.
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