The Japanese government made a significant decision in 2018 to end housing subsidies for the thousands of people who are still displaced from their homes after the Fukushima disaster. This move marked a turning point in the ongoing efforts to resettle the red zone area, where radiation levels remain a concern for many residents.
The push to resettle Fukushima’s red zone began in 2011, following the raising of allowable dose limits for radiation exposure from one millisievert per year to twenty. This increase was a significant change, considering that one millisievert per year remains the allowable dose for the rest of Japan. The decision to raise the limit to twenty millisieverts per year was previously reserved for workers in nuclear power plants.
Despite efforts to decontaminate Fukushima, including the removal and bagging of topsoil containing radioactive elements, concerns about radiation exposure persist. While radiation levels in town centers and school yards have been lowered, a short walk into neighboring areas can still result in a spike on a dosimeter. Additionally, winter storms wash radioactive material down from the mountains and forests in the nuclear exclusion zone, adding to the contamination concerns.
The soil that was scraped up and bagged during the decontamination process has been re-deposited into a dump behind the destroyed reactors. While the most radioactive elements are sequestered in concrete bunkers, soil measuring less than 8,000 becquerels per kilo, known as “happy soil,” is shipped across the country for use in landfills and construction projects. This strategy has raised questions about the safety of using potentially contaminated soil in other areas.
Yukio Shirahige, a former worker at Fukushima Daiichi, has raised concerns about the levels of radioactivity in the “happy soil.” While it can measure up to 8,000 becquerels per kilo, the dose limit for food in Japan is much lower at 100 becquerels per kilo. Shirahige suspects that the strategy to redistribute contaminated soil may be more about appearance than actual safety, as it could make Fukushima appear to have recovered when in reality, the contamination remains a significant issue.
With the ongoing disaster at Fukushima and the frequent earthquakes in Japan, the decision to restart the country’s nuclear fleet should be carefully considered. Thomas A Bass, a professor and author, highlights the complexities of the situation in his book “Return to Fukushima,” shedding light on the challenges faced by the residents of Fukushima and the broader implications of the nuclear disaster.
