Eleven years after the worst nuclear disaster in recent decades, the Japanese authorities on Tuesday lifted the evacuation order that still weighed on the town of Futaba, which houses part of the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant. The measure will allow its former residents to return to their homes, although the real scope of the measure remains to be seen.
On March 11, 2011, a devastating magnitude 9 earthquake and subsequent tsunami off the east coast of Japan caused the partial meltdown of the cores of several reactors at the Fukushima plant, the worst nuclear disaster in the world since Chernobyl in 1986.
In those days, more than 300,000 people residing in the area were forced to evacuate their homes - thousands more did so voluntarily - turning once vibrant communities into ghost towns.
Since then, large-scale cleanup and decontamination work has allowed those evacuation orders to be partially lifted and some residents to return to the former exclusion zone. Of the total of 11 affected municipalities, Futaba is the last to finalize that order, although more than 80% of its surface is still classified as "difficult to return" due to radioactivity.
The parts now reopened for habitability are located near the JR Futaba train station, built in the northeast part of the town after cleaning and decontamination of the area. Commercial and public facilities or the Great East Japan Earthquake and Nuclear Disaster Memorial Museum have also been erected in that area.
Still, recent photos of the city show empty shops, houses or temples, many with obvious signs of external damage such as collapsed roofs or broken windows. The streets seem almost empty, and in an adjoining field you can see abandoned cars and trucks covered with rust.
Authorities began preparing for the reopening of the city this year. In January, they launched a program that allowed former residents - some 3,500 according to the latest census from July - to temporarily return to the area, but only 85 of them chose to take sides.
A government survey carried out last year showed that 60.5% of former residents have no intention of returning, much higher than the 11.3% of those who expressed a desire to return.
"The evacuation order has now been lifted, but we cannot give a concrete number of how many people will return," a municipal spokesman told CNN. “We would like to see people come back and we will support their ability to do the best we can,” he added.
The partial lifting of the evacuation order in Futaba comes two months after authorities allowed a similar return to another "hard-to-return zone" in Okuma, the other town that is home to the troubled nuclear power plant.
The move announced today also comes at a time when Tokyo is showing renewed interest in nuclear power. Last week, the Japanese government announced its intention to launch a new program for the construction of small, next-generation nuclear reactors.
The move, announced by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, comes amid an energy crisis exacerbated by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and with the country seeking new ways to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels.
As announced, they plan to put into operation seven additional nuclear reactors in the summer of next year as a way to guarantee a stable electricity supply.
With these new facilities, Japan hopes to have a total of 17 new active nuclear reactors, including the ten that have already been approved. The country has set a goal for nuclear power to account for 20% to 22% of its electricity supply by 2030.
