Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant and tsunami wreckage. japanfocus.org

By arevamirpal::laprimavera
26 September 2011 The Japanese government says it will abolish the “evacuation-ready” zone in 5 municipalities that lie between 20 to 30-kilometer radius from Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant on September 30, all at once. It may be construed as a declaration by the national government that it is now “safe” to return after slightly over 6 months after one of the worst nuclear accidents in history (which many think is “the” worst). Yomiuri Shinbun (9/26/2011):

東京電力福島第一原子力発電所事故で同原発から半径２０～３０キロ圏を中心に設定された緊急時避難準備区域について、政府は３０日に一括して解除する。 The Japanese government will abolish the “evacuation-ready” zone on September 30. The “evacuation-ready” zone was set between 20 to 30-kilometer radius from Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant after the accident [where the residents are required to be ready to evacuate on a moment’s notice and where no pregnant women and small children are supposed to be living]. 同区域は、緊急時に屋内退避や圏外への避難ができるよう準備しておくことが求められている。南相馬市、田村市、楢葉町、広野町、川内村の５市町村の全部または一部が該当し、原発事故前の人口約５万８０００人のうち、約３万人が域外へ避難している。 In the “evacuation-ready” zone, residents are required to be ready to take refuge indoors or evacuate outside the zone in case of a nuclear emergency. The zone includes part or all of 5 municipalities – Minami Soma City, Tamura City, Naraha-machi, Hirono-machi, Kawauchi-mura. Currently, about 30,000 residents out of pre-accident area population of 58,000 have evacuated outside the area. 今後、各自治体は復旧計画に基づいて学校や住宅などの除染を進めながら、域外に避難している住民らに帰宅を呼びかける。 Each municipality will carry out decontamination of schools and homes based on the “recovery plan” [that it has submitted to the national government], and ask the residents who have evacuated to come back. […]

And “decontamination”? Good luck to them if the data from Watari District in Fukushima City is any indication. Professor Tomoya Yamauchi of Kobe University compared the radiation levels before and after the district’s “decontamination” effort, and found that it hardly made a dent. In a place where the removal of contaminated dirt didn’t happen, the radiation level doubled in a month, possibly with new deposits of radioactive cesium migrating from the surrounding area. Scrubbing the roofs and walkways with power washer lowered the radiation by 30% at most. (Professor Yamauchi’s report is here, in Japanese.) But the “decontamination” projects, which are usually undertaken by the neighborhood associations with minimal support from the municipal government’s cleaning contractors, seem to have an effect of making the residents feel the radiation may have gotten lower because of their own effort, and that it will be OK to continue to be living there. […]

#Radiation in Japan: Evacuation-Ready Zone to Be Abolished on September 30