- 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 Ōkuma were declared safe. Nearby Futaba, the other major evacuated town, remains a no-go area.
- Despite the declaration, nuclear radiation levels in Ōkuma 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 Ōkuma to be covered in a haze of radiation.
On Wednesday Japanese authorities said radiation levels in Ōkuma's Ogawara and Chuyashiki districts, about 40% of the town, are low enough for humans to return, the Asahi Shimbun reported.
The level of nuclear radiation in Ōkuma 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 Ōkuma.
The 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.
"We are finally standing on a starting line of reconstruction," the mayor of Ōkuma, 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.
Ōkuma's town center, hospital, and main train station, however, are still off limits, rending the town's facilities limited.
There'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.
Read more: 19 types of pollution you might encounter every day that could hurt your health, from radioactive toxins to cancer-causing chemicals
Nearby Futaba is still off-limits to people, but the government said it hopes it will re-open in 2020.
Next Story
I spent $2,000 for 7 nights in a 179-square-foot room on one of the world's largest cruise ships. Take a look inside my cabin.
One of the world's only 5-star airlines seems to be considering asking business-class passengers to bring their own cutlery
Vodafone Idea FPO allotment – How to check allotment, GMP and more
RCRS Innovations files draft papers with NSE Emerge to raise funds via IPO
India leads in GenAI adoption, investment trends likely to rise in coming years: Report
Reliance Jio emerges as World's largest mobile operator in data traffic, surpassing China mobile
Satellite monitoring shows large expansion in 27% identified glacial lakes in Himalayas: ISRO
Vodafone Idea shares jump nearly 8%
