Fukushima disaster: residents may never return to radiation-hit homes

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/22/japan-nuclear-disaster-radiation-levels

Fukushima disaster: residents may never return to radiation-hit homes

Japanese government will admit for first time that radiation levels will be too high to allow many evacuees to return home

Justin McCurry, in Tokyo guardian.co.uk,
Monday 22 August 2011 17.22 BST

Residents who lived close to the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant are to be told their homes may be uninhabitable for decades, according to Japanese media reports.

The Japanese prime minister, Naoto Kan, is expected to visit the area at the weekend to tell evacuees they will not be able to return to their homes, even if the operation to stabilise the plant's stricken reactors by January is successful.

Kan's announcement will be the first time officials have publicly recognised that radiation damage to areas near the plant could make them too dangerous to live in for at least a generation, effectively meaning that some residents will never return to them.

A Japanese government source is quoted in local media as saying the area could be off-limits for "several decades". New data has revealed unsafe levels of radiation outside the 12-mile exclusion zone, increasing the likeliness that entire towns will remain unfit for habitation.

[Kolesar]

1. I live 12 miles from a nuclear plant

"Can't happen here". Everything is fine. Don't worry. Trust the company.

[mike_c]

2. that has been patently obvious since shortly after the meltdown....

Did anyone ever expect otherwise? Hint: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/02/chernobyl-25-years-after-_n_816902.html#s233577

[AndyTiedye]

3. Radioactive Contamination is Forever

k/r

[fishbulb703]

4. It's worse than even the initial worst-cast put out by the industry. This energy source is a good

solution, in theory, but the costs to design a safe reactor is just too high for an initial capital investment. Fukushima's reactor (GE) was supposed to be fail safe. We need a lot more research investment before it is viable, and those dollars are better spent on SOLAR, wind, and tidal energy sources.