Adopting a return to normal policy, the Japanese government undertook an unprecedented decontamination program for areas of Fukushima contaminated by the triple reactor meltdown in March 2011. Aerial view of nuclear waste storage area in the mountainous forests of Iitate, Fukushima prefecture in Japan. The decontamination program consisted of scraping, reverse tillage and removal of top soil from farmland, stripping and removal of soil from school yards, parks and gardens, trimming and cutting of contaminated trees and plants in a 20 meter area around peoples homes, and the same along a 10-15 meter strip either side of the roads, including into the nearby forests. A total of 24-28,000 people formally lived in these areas, with all evacuated in the days and months following the March 2011 disaster. Two areas of the SDA in particular were subject to concentrated efforts between 2014-2016, namely Iitate and Namie.

Other areas of Fukushima and other prefectures where contamination was lower but significant were also subject to decontamination efforts in the so called Intensive Contamination Survey Area (ICSA). In the period 2013-14, the Japanese government set about a decontamination program with the objective of being able to lift evacuation orders in the Special Decontaminated Area (SDA) of Fukushima prefecture. The highest concentrations (greater than 1 million becquerels per meter square) centered in an area more than than 400 square kilometers within Fukushima prefecture. © DigitalGlobeĪs a result of the Fukushima Daiichi accident, gases and particulates which vented into the atmosphere, led to radioactive fallout greater than 10,000 becquerels per square meter contaminating an estimated 8 percent, or 24,000 square kilometers, of the landmass of Japan. The damage was caused by the offshore earthquake that occurred on 11 March 2011. A satellite image shows damage at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant In Fukushima Prefecture. Of the many complex issues resulting from the disaster, one in particular may have become routine but is anything but normal: the vast amounts of nuclear waste, stored and being transported across Fukushima prefecture. Nearly seven years after the triple reactor meltdown, this unique nuclear crisis is still underway. Traditional early morning Japanese breakfast, briefing on objectives, equipment check and drive into the beautiful mountainous forests of this region: this is the daily routine that will allow us to complete our latest investigation into the radiological status in some of the most contaminated areas of Fukushima prefecture.But there is nothing normal about the routine in Fukushima. Nuclear waste storage area in Iitate, Fukushima prefecture in Japan.

Nuclear reactor meltdown in japan 2011