How many will be able to return home?

June 12, 2012

Prolonged evacuation around nuclear plant

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T120611003846.htm 

FUKUSHIMA (Jiji Press)--Over 30 percent of people who lived near the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant are unlikely to be able to return home even five years after the March 2011 disaster, the government has said.

The government said 32 percent of about 86,000 evacuees from 11 municipalities near the nuclear plant are expected to remain on evacuation order five years after the outbreak of the crisis.

The proportion is projected at 18 percent in 10 years, the government said in a meeting with local officials Saturday.

In the town of Okuma, where part of the nuclear plant is located, only 3 percent of evacuees are expected to be able to return home in five years. The proportion is likely to rise to 18 percent in 10 years.

The estimates are based on the assumption that no decontamination work will be carried out, according to the government.

Annual radiation levels are expected to stay above 20 millisieverts even five years from now in some areas of six of the 11 municipalities, the government said.