Fukushima town hosting nuclear plant allows residents to return

FUKUSHIMA, Japan Kyodo An evacuation order was lifted Thursday in part of a town hosting the Fukushima nuclear power plant, which allowed residents to return home permanently for the first time since the March 2011 nuclear disaster.

Restrictions in a difficult-to- return zone in Okuma were lifted at 9 a.m. in the first case for a municipality hosting Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.'s Fukushima Daiichi plant in northeastern Japan.

After decontamination work to reduce radiation levels, the district of 8.6 square kilometers including the area around JR Ono Station was designated as a reconstruction and revitalization base.

Okuma became the second municipality in Fukushima Prefecture to see people coming back to an area designated as a difficult-to- return zone after a similar evacuation order for part of the Katsurao village was lifted on June 12.

The entire population of about 11,500 in Okuma was forced to evacuate after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami triggered meltdowns at the nuclear plant that made the area unhabitable.

Around 400 people have already returned to the town since an evacuation order for areas with low radiation levels was lifted in April 2019.

An evacuation order for the reconstruction and revitalization base in Futaba, another town hosting the nuclear plant, is expected to be lifted in July or later.