After 8 years, residents of a ghost town soaked in radiation by the Fukushima nuclear reactor disaster are allowed back
Bill Bostock
22h
 The evacuated town of Okuma, no one has been allowed back since March 11, 2011. Uma Sharma
Some former residents of a town evacuated eight years ago after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear plant disaster have been allowed to move back for the first time.On March 11, 2011, a 15-meter tsunami flooded three of the Daiichi plant's six reactors, killing the power and allowing the reactor cores to melt and radiation to seep out.On Wednesday, two neighborhoods in Okuma were declared safe. Nearby Futaba, the other major evacuated town, remains a no-go area.Despite the declaration, nuclear radiation levels in Okuma are 20 times higher than they were before the disaster. A 2018 survey showed only 13% of ex-residents wanted to return. Visit BusinessInsider.com for more stories.
Japan has allowed residents to move back to a town in Fukushima which had been under strict evacuation orders since the 2011 nuclear power plant disaster blanketed it in deadly radiation.
On March 11, 2011, 15-meter tsunami waves triggered by an earthquake flooded three of six reactors in the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, causing the nearby towns of Futaba and Okuma to be covered in a haze of radiation.
On Wednesday Japanese authorities said radiation levels in Okuma's Ogawara and Chuyashiki districts, about 40% of the town, are low enough for humans to return, the Asahi Shimbun reported.
 The Fukushima plant. YouTube/DocumentaryTVThe level of nuclear radiation in Okuma is now at 20 millisievert — the same as what people who work in nuclear power plants experience — but before the disaster it was as low as 1 millisievert, the Associated Press (AP) reported.
Read more: Japan dropped a bomb on an asteroid in the name of science, as it tries to learn more about the history of the solar system
In total 160,000 people had to flee the area after the earthquake caused waves to disable the reactor's power supply, leading to widespread nuclear contamination. Of those, 10,000 lived in Okuma.
 Reactor units 1 to 4 are seen over storage tanks for radioactive water are seen at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Okuma town, Fukushima prefecture. ReutersThe government, in tandem with the plant's owners Tokyo Electric Power Co., have been working ceaselessly to decontaminate the area since the disaster, removing topsoil, chopping down trees, and scrubbing houses and roads clean, AP reported.
 An elderly man taken by wheelchair to be scanned for levels of radiation in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture. Sunday, March 13, 2011. AP"We are finally standing on a starting line of reconstruction," the mayor of Okuma, Toshitsuna Watanabe, told reporters on Wednesday.
The town is getting back on its feet, with a new corner shop, town hall, and 50 new homes all opening in May.
Okuma's town center, hospital, and main train station, however, are still off limits, rending the town's facilities limited.
 Evacuees of Okuma, who are dressed in protective suits, offer prayers for victims of the disaster, one year after the disaster ReutersThere's no guarantee residents will repopulate the town, though. A 2018 survey of ex-residents found only 13% wanted to return to their old homes, the AP reported. |
