PHIL KEOGHAN: Nuclear power
has been a reliable source
of energy for 70 years.
But it comes with the
risk of a meltdown,
as we saw in Chernobyl in
1986 and Fukushima in 2011.
After Chernobyl, Russia ordered
a 1,600 square mile area around
the plant abandoned forever.
But a very different plan
is underway in Fukushima.
Here's correspondent
Mariana van Zeller in Japan.
[buzzer sounding]
BRET BAIER: The Fukushima
Daiichi nuclear power plant
has reportedly lost
control, after an earthquake
and tsunami a meltdown.
The radiation is streaming
out of the Daiichi complex.
BARACK OBAMA: This is a
catastrophic disaster.
[ominous music playing]
MARIANA VAN ZELLER:
I'm here in Fukushima,
exploring one of the towns
abandoned by the disaster.
Radiation is still too high
for people to live here.
This looks like it used
to be a beauty salon.
It had a lot of damage.
This looks like it used to
be a flower or plant shop.
We have to be very careful with
what we touch or where we step,
because there's all this sort of
radioactive dust and particles
everywhere.
Oh, wow.
Look at this.
Whoa.
This was a retirement home.
Everywhere, there's
just evidence of panic
to get out of here
as fast as possible.
It's really a time
capsule of a really bad
disaster that happened here.
[music playing]
The Daiichi nuclear power plant
sits on the easternmost edge
of the Fukushima prefecture.
When it blew, it spewed
radiation across dozens
of towns, triggering a 12-mile
evacuation zone that's still
partially in effect today.
The plant itself is still
the most hazardous site.
If Japan is encouraging
people to move back,
how have conditions
improved in the seven years
since the disaster?
I'm meeting up with
radiation researcher,
Azby Brown, who was able
to get special access
to take us to the plant.
AZBY BROWN: Let's head out.
MARIANA VAN ZELLER: So this
is an area that people passed
[inaudible]
AZBY BROWN: You need
permission to get in there.
So we've obtained
the permission.
MARIANA VAN ZELLER:
Azby says we're
OK to spend a short time there.
But I'm going to play it safe,
and stay in my protective gear.
[ominous music playing]
Whoa.
AZBY BROWN: Yup.
That's it.
Fukushima Daiichi.
MARIANA VAN ZELLER:
We are so close.
So no one has been in
there since the disaster?
AZBY BROWN: Actually, there's
5,000 people working there.
It's a massive cleanup.
They can get into
parts of the buildings,
but they send robots in to
take video and to do work.
MARIANA VAN ZELLER: Wow.
AZBY BROWN: People
can't even go in there,
the radiation is so high.
It's thousands of times higher--
MARIANA VAN ZELLER: Than
what it is right here?
AZBY BROWN: Yeah, than here.
MARIANA VAN ZELLER:
How long would a person
be able survive in there?
AZBY BROWN: A couple of minutes.
You would get so much
radiation, damaging
and killing your
cells, that your organs
would start to fail.
There may be some way to
clean it up in 20 years
or so, to make it livable.
But it's an incredibly
daunting task.
MARIANA VAN ZELLER:
Still, Japan has
taken on the most
extensive nuclear cleanup
ever attempted worldwide.
The government claims that
by removing the top inches
of soil, where
toxins have settled,
it will make the land
safe again to live.
For seven years, workers have
been moving inch by inch, town
by town, digging out
layers of poisonous waste,
dropping it into plastic
bags, and storing it
at temporary sites.
These are all bags
with the nuclear waste.
I mean, it looks like
hundreds of thousands of bags
just on this one site.
In parking lots, fields,
and abandoned yards,
throughout Fukushima,
there are 9 million
bags of waste, and counting.
[ominous music playing]
Japan says the cleanup
effort is working,
and towns on the edge
of the evacuation zone
are safe to resettle.
In 2015, they deemed
Naraha, 12 miles
south of the reactor site, the
first town ready to reopen.
Yet less than half of the
7,400 residents returned.
[speaking japanese]
You have a beautiful house.
How long have you
lived here for?
[speaking japanese]
About a year and a half
after Naraha reopened,
the government cut off
subsidies paying for evacuees
to live in temporary housing.
They hoped residents
would come home,
but many chose to
move elsewhere.
Oh, wow.
And although the government
claims the land is safe,
Yanai is not convinced.
So he's willing to put his life
in danger to cleanup his place.
Most of the places
around here, it's
the government workers that are
removing the contaminated soil.
But you've decided
to do it yourself.
Why?
[speaking japanese]
How much time did that take you?
[speaking japanese]
Can you show me how you do it?
[music playing]
The top layer is all toxic soil.
So in order to decontaminate
it, you really have to excavate.
[speaking japanese]
[music playing]
It's not just fear of
radiation preventing residents
from returning to Naraha.
[speaking japanese.]
MARIANA VAN ZELLER: After
years of abandonment,
towns in the area have
been overrun by wild boars.
They're ravaging homes, and
everything in their path.
FUKUO FURUICHI:
[speaking japanese]
MARIANA VAN ZELLER: The boars
are not on the aggressive
and known to attack,
they're radioactive.
FUKUO FURUICHI:
[speaking japanese]
MARIANA VAN ZELLER: How many
boars have you caught this way?
FUKUO FURUICHI:
[speaking japanese]
MARIANA VAN ZELLER: 2,000 hogs?
FUKUO FURUICHI:
[speaking japanese]
MARIANA VAN ZELLER: So
when the boar comes in,
he triggers the wire
and the gates close?
Whoa.
Yes.
FUKUO FURUICHI:
[speaking japanese]
MARIANA VAN ZELLER:
So he's saying
we have to go because they think
they've caught another boar
in one of the other
traps and they
want to go check it right now.
[music playing]
It's dangerous?
FUKUO FURUICHI:
[speaking japanese]
MARIANA VAN ZELLER:
They attack you?
FUKUO FURUICHI:
[speaking japanese]
MARIANA VAN ZELLER: I
think it's right there.
It's being held by
something around his foot.
FUKUO FURUICHI:
[speaking japanese]
MARIANA VAN ZELLER:
Don't get too close.
FUKUO FURUICHI:
[speaking japanese]
MARIANA VAN ZELLER:
It's a big one.
FUKUO FURUICHI:
[speaking japanese]
MARIANA VAN ZELLER: Oh, my god.
FUKUO FURUICHI:
[speaking japanese]
MARIANA VAN ZELLER:
He's taking out his gun,
and he's about to
shoot the-- oh.
[gunshot]
That was awful.
He shot him right on the head,
and he's dying right now.
This is really sad to watch.
[music playing]
The challenges in Naraha
seem overwhelming.
Still, Japan is pushing for
more residents to come home.
Even with all the
cleanup and rebuilding,
I can't help wondering,
will it ever be enough?
Can you give me an
idea of how much
money has been spent in trying
to get people to come back?
KENJI OWADA: [speaking japanese]
MARIANA VAN ZELLER: Can
you guarantee with 100%
that it's safe right now
for people to come back?
KENJI OWADA: [speaking japanese]
MARIANA VAN ZELLER:
We're going to check out
one of the government's
most significant efforts
in Naraha, a state
of the art project
that every community in
the world needs to thrive.
We're visiting this new
school that they just built.
Right here in the parking
lot, there is this radiation
monitor, so that parents,
when they drop off their kids
at school every
morning, they can
make sure that it's safe for
the kids to go to school.
[music playing]
This is a beautiful school.
MASANORI SATO:
[speaking japanese]
MARIANA VAN ZELLER: So because
of the radiation levels,
you had to demolish
the previous school
and build an entirely new one?
MASANORI SATO: Yes.
MARIANA VAN ZELLER:
What is this?
MASANORI SATO:
Elementary, sixth grade.
MARIANA VAN ZELLER:
Sixth graders.
Oh, chemistry.
MASANORI SATO: Yes.
MARIANA VAN ZELLER:
They're good students.
MASANORI SATO:
[speaking japanese]
MARIANA VAN ZELLER: This
is a beautiful school.
They spent millions of
dollars building it.
And yet, it only
has 68 students.
It's built for 300.
MASANORI SATO:
[speaking japanese]
MARIANA VAN ZELLER:
But enrollment
has doubled since the first
year, a promising sign
that others will follow.
MASANORI SATO:
[speaking japanese]
MARIANA VAN ZELLER: So cute.
MASANORI SATO:
[speaking japanese]
MARIANA VAN ZELLER: Children
are actually the most vulnerable
for radiation.
So every day, Mr. Ouchi here
prepares all the local food
that they have from
this region, and then
tests it for radioactivity.
Have there have been
times where you've checked
and the radiation levels
have been too high?
TAKAO OUCHI: [speaking japanese]
MARIANA VAN ZELLER:
How many times a day
do you have to do this?
TAKAO OUCHI: [speaking japanese]
MARIANA VAN ZELLER: It's really
crazy, all that they have to go
through to just make sure
that the food is safe enough
for the kids here to eat.
[music playing]
OK.
[music playing]
Coming back from a
disaster of this scale
is a decades-long endeavor.
But for some families,
living elsewhere
is simply not an option.
SATOKO YAMAUCHI:
[speaking japanese]
The Yamauchi family
moved back a year ago.
They had to demolish their old
home, and everything in it.
They rebuilt from scratch.
Were you scared to come back?
SATOKO YAMAUCHI:
[speaking japanese]
HIROYUKI YAMAUCHI:
[speaking japanese]
SATOKO YAMAUCHI:
[speaking japanese]
[music playing]
MARIANA VAN ZELLER: In 2020,
Fukushima's recovery efforts
will be center stage at
the Olympic Games in Tokyo,
150 miles away.
To honor the region, the torch
relay will begin in Fukushima.
So I've been in Fukushima
for a few days now.
And it seems that with
every tragic story,
there's also a story
about hope, and people
really trying and fighting to
bring this place back to life.
[speaking japanese]
MARIANA VAN ZELLER:
Cheers to Fukushima.
[music playing]
