No more hotspots

December 22, 2014

Gov't to lift evacuation recommendation in Minamisoma, says radiation levels safe

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20141222p2a00m0na008000c.html

MINAMISOMA, Fukushima -- The central government plans to lift evacuation recommendations in this city on Dec. 28 for areas of high localized radiation, saying the levels have dropped sufficiently since the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

The government announced the news at a public briefing here on Dec. 21. The city is the only municipality that still has localized recommendations in place, which are separate from other, far broader evacuation recommendations and orders still in effect around the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.

Residents at the briefing protested that the decision to lift the recommendations was "not valuing human life" and argued that the recommendations "should be lifted only from residences where the residents agree." However, government representatives insisted that the only requirement for lifting the recommendations was that radiation level fall below a certain level.

The localized evacuation recommendations in question were issued by the government for "hotspots" where radiation exceeds 20 millisieverts per year, excluding normal background levels. In Minamisoma, there are 142 such hotspots, covering 152 residences. Government radiation measurements taken since July this year show that all the residences are down to doses of less than 3.8 microsieverts per hour, equivalent to 20 millisieverts per year.

State Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yosuke Takagi, who heads the local nuclear disaster response headquarters, told residents, "To dispel unfounded rumors, it is important to get the message out that radiation levels have fallen sufficiently."

The national government had wanted to lift the evacuation recommendations in October, but gave up after determining that more work needed to be done to allay residents' fears. It set up a consultation center for residents and performed additional decontamination work for people who requested it.

Localized evacuation recommendations were also in place in the Fukushima Prefecture municipalities of Date and Kawauchi before being lifted in December 2012.