Fukushima residents may never go home

Some Fukushima residents may never return to their homes.

Work to shut down the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is proceeding steadily, and the plant's general manager has apologised for the accident in a video released by the plant's owners, TEPCO. But progress on the site offers little comfort to local residents.

According to Japanese media reports, outgoing prime minister Naoto Kan is expected to announce that some neighbourhoods will be uninhabitable for many years. Data from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science & Technology suggest that in some places the yearly radiation dose would be over 500 millisieverts. The International Commission on Radiological Protection suggests no more than 1 millisievert each year for the general public, and no more than 20 millisieverts per year for workers in nuclear power plants.

The news follows allegations that Fukushima was crippled by the earthquake, not the ensuing tsunami as previously thought. The implication was that Japan's nuclear reactors could not cope with earthquakes. However, New Scientist has subsequently reported that Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency and the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, Austria, say this is not the case.

Source: NewScientist.com