Police station reopens in Fukushima

October 2, 2015

Police station near Fukushima nuclear plant restarts operations

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/10/02/national/police-station-near-fukushima-nuclear-plant-restarts-operations/#.Vg5XMpfwmic

JIJI

TOMIOKA, FUKUSHIMA PREF. – A police station near the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant restarted some operations Thursday.

Futaba Police Station in the Fukushima Prefecture town of Tomioka had been unusable since the March 2011 reactor meltdown at the Tokyo Electric Power Co. plant.

At a reopening ceremony, Katsuhiko Ishida, chief of the Fukushima Prefecture Police, instructed officers to contribute to regional reconstruction by meeting expectations from affected residents.

Officers at the police station should be proud of working on the front line of reconstruction, Ishida said.

Futaba Police Station is located in a restricted area where access is allowed only for temporary visits.

It will handle traffic control for a growing number of vehicles serving reconstruction projects, as well as inquiries and registrations from residents who have returned to their homes temporarily.

Two or three officers will be stationed from 9 a.m. through 5 p.m. on Monday to Saturday.

The police station will be used as a hub to patrol the Fukushima towns of Futaba, Okuma and Tomioka.

Operations at Futaba Police Station were relocated to another town in the prefecture soon after the nuclear meltdown. In 2012, a temporary police station opened in Naraha, south of Tomioka.

October 1, 2015

Fukushima police station reopens 4 1/2 years after nuclear meltdowns

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20151001p2a00m0na008000c.html

TOMIOKA, Fukushima -- A police station that was evacuated in the wake of the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant disaster has reopened at its original location, amid the prospects of increased traffic following the lifting of an evacuation order near the area.

The Futaba Police Station of the Fukushima Prefectural Police force resumed part of its operations at its original headquarters in the Fukushima Prefecture town of Tomioka on Oct. 1 -- for the first time in 4 1/2 years since the onset of the nuclear disaster. The headquarters building had been shut down after the area became subject to an evacuation order.

Following the lifting of an evacuation order in the neighboring town of Naraha on Sept. 5, police decided to reopen the original headquarters because of the potential increase in the number of visitors to the area.

The headquarters building, however, is still located in a so-called "restricted residential area" -- whose annual accumulated radiation doses measure more than 20 millisieverts and up to 50 millisieverts -- and most of the Futaba Police Station's operations will continue to be carried out at its temporary headquarters in Naraha.

At the reopened headquarters in Tomioka, two to three police officers will be stationed there from Monday through Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. They will receive consultations from residents who make a temporary return to their homes, as well as being engaged in patrols and traffic control.

During a ceremony to mark the restart of operations on Oct. 1, prefectural police chief Katsuhiko Ishida told station police officers, "I want you to renew your resolve and assist Fukushima's reconstruction from a security aspect."