The Police Post Is Re-opened In Fukushima Nuclear Generation City After 11 Years

PLTN Fukushima area. (Wikimedia Commons/IAEA Imagebank)

JAKARTA - A small police post in the city where the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (PLTN) is reopened Monday for the first time in 11 years and five months, as the Japanese government prepares to lift evacuation orders imposed in the area due to high radiation levels.

A ceremony was held in Futaba, the only city that was still quiet due to an evacuation order, before the return of some of its residents after the lifting of the order late Monday.

The police post, located about 3 kilometers northwest of the nuclear plant, will accommodate one officer.

"I want to support the city by maintaining peace here, so that residents can feel safe again," said Hirotaka Umemiya (40), when he started his duties in the city, according to Kyodo News, August 29.

Police posts closed immediately after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that sparked destruction in the nuclear complex, which runs across two coastal cities of Futaba and Okuma.

Although Futaba, which hosts reactor No. 5 and 6 of the Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. complex, is set to welcome back the population, more than 80 percent of the municipality will remain a "difficult to return" zone.

The re-opening area is located in the Futaba center near JR Futaba Station, and the northeastern city zone, where many commercial and public facilities such as the Great Earthquake Commemoration Museum of East Japan and Nuclear Disasters are located.

With relatively low levels of radiation, people have been allowed into the northeastern Futaba zone since March 2020, but not to stay there.

By the end of July, 3,574 people out of 1,449 households, or more than 60 percent of the city's population, were listed as residents of two zones which only covered 15 percent of Futaba's total area.

However, the number of residents participating in the preparation program starting in January to return home temporarily, only 85 out of 52 families.

Futaba is targeting a population increase to 2,000 by 2030, although last year's population survey found 60.5 percent had decided not to return, far exceeding 11.3 percent who expressed their desire to return.

As for areas other than those reopened or scheduled to reopen, the government plans to dagulate individual locations after confirming that residents intend to return, with Okuma and Futaba expected to start the work in fiscal year 2024.

The separate ceremony was held Saturday for the opening of Futaba's new city office, which is temporarily located in the neighboring town of Iwaki, with operations set to begin on September 5.