Japan may ban access to evacuation zone at crippled nuclear plant

Up to 80,000 people were living in the 10 towns and villages within 12 miles of the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, which has been leaking radiation after a March 11 earthquake and tsunami wrecked its power and cooling systems.

Virtually all left after being advised to do so, but some have been returning occasionally, defying warnings from police.

“We are considering setting up caution areas as an option for effectively limiting entry” to the zone, said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano.

Noriyuki Shikata, one of Edano’s deputies, said the government was considering details of how to control access to the immediate vicinity of the plant while also responding to demands from residents to check their homes and collect belongings.

“Under the current regime, we are not in a position to legally enforce – there’s no penalty for entering into the area. There is a realisation of a need to have a stronger enforcement of the area,” Shikata said. At present, police keep track of people entering the evacuation zone by noting down their licence plate numbers.

In a step toward restoring the crippled nuclear plant’s cooling systems, Tokyo Electric Power Co, the nuclear plant’s operator, is pumping highly radioactive water from the basement of one of its turbine buildings to a makeshift storage area.

Removal of the first 2.6 million gallons of 6.6 million gallons of contaminated water that has collected just in the basement of the turbine building at Unit 2 of the plant began on Tuesday.