Decontamination starts in no-entry zone

March 14, 2018

Decontamination work begins in Fukushima town

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180314_29/

Media have been allowed to watch decontamination work at a post-disaster reconstruction hub inside the no-entry zone set up after the 2011 nuclear accident in Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan.

Reporters were invited on Wednesday to a kindergarten in the town of Okuma, about 7 kilometers from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Work began there last Friday to remove radioactive substances from the kindergarten's 7,000-square-meter playground. Workers will weed grass as tall as an adult, and replace contaminated topsoil with new earth.

The central government has recognized an 860-hectare zone around the railway station in Okuma as a reconstruction hub based on the local administration's plan.

Utilities and other infrastructure will be rebuilt and some houses will be demolished at the request of residents to provide them with a livable environment.

Okuma was designated as an area where residents could not return due to high radiation levels. Authorities plan to lift the evacuation order in about 4 years.

Okuma is the second municipality in the prefecture after the town of Futaba where decontamination work has begun at reconstruction hubs.

Similar projects are set to kick off in other municipalities in the fiscal year starting in April.