Japan’s outgoing Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Saturday said he was sorry that some areas close to the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant will remain uninhabitable for a long time. “In reality, I cannot deny the possibility unfortunately for residents not being able to return and live in some places for a long time even after taking decontamination measures,” Kan told Fukushima governor Yuhei Sato. “I am very sorry.
I apologise,” Kan said, according to Jiji Press. Everywhere inside a 20-kilometre (12 mile) radius of the plant was evacuated after the March 11 quake and tsunami triggered the world’s worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl. But a recent government survey has shown that some areas within the zone are contaminated with radiation equivalent to more than 500 millisieverts (mSv) per year. The government’s legal safety limit is 20 mSv per year.
