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c0lo [soylentnews.org] writes:

ABC Australia reports [abc.net.au] that 3 years after the Fukushima disaster, hundreds of Fukushima evacuees will return home for the first time. The government is saying it's safe, but most of the evacuees don't want to go back.
In the centre of the hillside town of Tamura is a temporary housing centre for Fukushima's evacuees. About 370 have been living in small demountables since the Fukushima disaster three years ago. The residents here will be the first to be allowed to return to their homes around the crippled nuclear plant. But they're not excited by the prospect.

Reuters publishes [reuters.com] a report showing what effect the fear of radiation has had over the counties in the Fukushima neighborhood: "Some of the smallest children in Koriyama, a short drive from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, barely know what it's like to play outside — fear of radiation has kept them in doors for much of their short lives. Even if the strict safety limits for outdoor activity set after multiple meltdowns have now been eased, parental worries and ingrained habit mean many children still stay inside.
And the impact is now starting to show, with children experiencing falling strength, lack of coordination, some cannot even ride a bicycle, and emotional issues like shorter tempers, officials and educators say."

The loss of nuclear power has meant importing extra oil, coal and gas and that has hurt the Japan economy. The government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is setting its sights on restarting some of the country's 48 mothballed reactors, amid protests [euronews.com] of thousands in Tokyo.

The silver lining of the cloud, Japan may be seeing an opportunity [globalnews.ca] in Fukushima cleanup: "There is decommissioning business here beyond Fukushima and it's a worldwide business," said Lake Barrett, a former U.S. nuclear regulator. "I think it's an exciting new area, Japan can be a world leader again."
Japan created the government-funded International Research Institute for Nuclear Decommissioning, or IRID, last year. It brings together nuclear plant operators, construction companies and organizations of nuclear experts to promote research and development of nuclear decommissioning technologies.
Japanese companies including Toshiba Corp., Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Hitachi have been developing robots that can monitor radiation, decontaminate, remove contaminated debris or repair damage, and some of them have been mobilized at the plant.

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