TOKYO — Japan declared a 12-mile area evacuated around its tsunami-crippled nuclear power plant a no-go zone today, urging residents to abide by the order for their own safety.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said the order would take effect at midnight and was meant to prevent unrestricted entry into the mostly deserted area around the damaged Fukushima Daiichi power plant. Under Japan’s Disaster Countermeasures Basic Law, people who enter the zone would be subject to fines of up to 100,000 yen ($1,200) and possible arrest. Up to now, defiance of the evacuation order was not punishable by law.
Almost all the zone’s nearly 80,000 residents left when the area was evacuated March 12, but police have not been able to legally block them from going back.
Police contacted today said they had no estimate of the exact number of people who have returned to the zone or who still might be living there.
Officials said the order was meant to limit exposure to radiation leaking from the plant and to control entry to prevent theft.
Edano said authorities would arrange brief visits for residents, allowing one person per household to return by bus for a maximum of two hours to collect necessary belongings. Residents would have to go through radiation screening, he said.
Meanwhile, a doctor who met with workers battling the crisis at the stricken nuclear plant said they suffer from insomnia, show signs of dehydration and high blood pressure and are at risk of developing depression or heart trouble.
“The (working) conditions at the plant remain harsh,” epidemiologist Takeshi Tanigawa said Wednesday. “I am afraid that if this continues, we will see a growing risk of health problems.”
His findings relate to the health risks workers face due to fatigue, rather than from any exposure to radiation.
Tanigawa, the Public Health Department chairman at Ehime University’s medical school, said he met and spoke with 80 of the workers over four days when he was allowed into another nearby nuclear plant where many of them take their breaks. He said he was not able to carry out full physical exams on the workers before leaving Tuesday because of time constraints.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. said 245 workers from the company and affiliated companies were stationed at the Fukushima Dai- ichi plant Wednesday. Soldiers, firefighters and police officers also were at the site.
