TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s government today opened part of the last town that had been off-limits due to radiation since the Fukushima nuclear disaster nine years ago, in a symbolic move showing the region’s recovery ahead of the Tokyo Olympics.
All 7,000 people in the town of Futaba were forced to evacuate when three reactors at a nearby nuclear plant melted down after being damaged by a magnitude 9. 0 earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011.
The partial lifting of the entry ban comes weeks before the Olympic torch procession starts in another town in Fukushima. The torch could also pass through Futaba, about 2.4 miles from the wrecked nuclear plant.
