Waiting

The organizers of the biggest anti-nuclear protest to take place in Japan since the country was struck by a earthquake, tsunami and the resulting nuclear disaster in March say that there were 60,000 demonstrators in a downtown Tokyo park on Monday.

"What has become clear since the accident is that facts are concealed, the government does not protect its citizens, the accident has yet to be brought under control, and people in Fukushima will become materials for a nuclear experiment," anti-nuclear activist Ruiko Muto said at the rally.

Yet, despite increased public hostility towards nuclear energy, with some 70 percent of Japanese citizens in favor of eliminating nuclear power according to polls, the new government does not seem interested in phasing it out. Later this week, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda is expected to tell a session of the UN meeting on nuclear safety and security that Japan will "raise the safety of nuclear plants to the highest level" but that the country needs to continue using nuclear power. This is unlikely to go down well with the Japanese public, especially those tens of thousands of citizens who have been forced to evacuate their homes in Fukushima.

A brief trip home

On Monday, about 200 of these evacuees were allowed to briefly return to their houses. They were given two hours to load up their cars with personal belongings, such as winter coats and heaters. "Last time, I was only allowed to take a small bag," said one woman from Kawauchi, on the edge of the evacuation zone, southwest of the nuclear plant. Tests and computer simulations have shown that radiation levels are lower here than in the northwest.

"I want to come back home," said another inhabitant. "Regardless of how long it takes. I've lived here over 50 years." She and her husband had come back to the evacuation zone with their three daughters. Everything they took with them had to be tested for radiation and decontaminated before they went back to the containers that have been set up for Fukushima evacuees in the surrounding towns.

The authorities in Kawauchi and Tamura hope that their inhabitants will be able to return for good next March, by which time the land and houses should be decontaminated. However, other communities think the work could last until the end of next year and are reluctant to make any promises.

Getting the crippled plant under control

Tatsuo Hirano, the minister in charge of post-disaster reconstruction, said on Monday that the crippled Fukushima Daiichi plant had to be stabilized and the radiation levels had to be closely observed before the evacuees could go home.

At an International Atomic Energy Agency meeting in Vienna, Energy Minister Goshi Hosono suggested that the reactors might be stabilized by the end of the year. However, he said Japan faced a huge task to clean up the surrounding area and needed help from all sides to get the problem under control.

He was also reluctant to make any promises about Japan's nuclear and energy policy but said it was important to be mindful of critical views.

Author: Peter Kujath / act
Editor: Manasi Gopalakrishnan