Japan ruling party questions plan to let Fukushima evacuees go home - media

TOKYO, Nov 3 (Reuters) - A Japanese ruling
party official has called into question a
government plan to let people who fled
from the Fukushima nuclear disaster go
home, saying the government should
identify areas that will never be habitable.
The Fukushima plant north of Tokyo was
battered by an earthquake and tsunami in
March 2011, leading to meltdowns and
explosions that sent plumes of radiation
into the air and sea.
About 150,000 people were evacuated. A
large area of surrounding land is off-limits
because of radiation but the government is
hoping to eventually allow everyone to go
home.
But Shigeru Ishiba, secretary general of the
ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), said it
was inevitable that some people would
never go back.
"The time will definitely come that someone
must say 'they cannot live in this area but
they would be compensated'," Ishiba was
quoted as saying in the Asahi Shimbun
newspaper.
The question of letting people go home is
politically sensitive for the government and
it would not want to have to tell thousands
of residents that cannot go back.
The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power
Co, has been struggling to stop radiation
leaks from the wrecked plant.
It is now preparing to remove 400 tonnes
of highly irradiated spent fuel from a
damaged reactor building, a very dangerous
operation that has never been attempted
before on this scale.
Ishiba also said authorities might have to
relax limits for radiation exposure if
anything was ever going to be done in
terms of re-building the area.
"Unless we come up with answer as to what
to do with a measure for decontamination,
reconstruction of Fukushima won't ever
make progress," Ishiba was quoted as
saying. (Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto;