Kan eyes announcing no-entry zone near Fukushima nuclear plant

TOKYO, April 20 Kyodo -
Prime Minister Naoto Kan is expected to announce that his government will soon impose an order to prohibit people from entering areas within a 20-kilometer radius of the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant, government sources said Wednesday.
The government is considering designating the zone, already covered by an evacuation directive following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, as an off-limits area within the week, the sources said.
For a closer look into the situation in Fukushima Prefecture, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told a news conference that Kan will make a one-day trip to the prefecture on Thursday and meet with evacuees in the cities of Tamura and Koriyama.
Kan is scheduled to hold talks with Fukushima Gov. Yuhei Sato to explain what the government has been discussing in terms of designating off-limit areas, Edano said.
The top government spokesman also said the prime minister is set to encourage workers involved in a local task force dealing with the ongoing nuclear crisis.
The designation of the zone as off-limits is aimed at enhancing government control of the area to which evacuees have been temporarily returning home on their own to collect belongings despite fears of radiation, which continues to leak from the crisis-hit Fukushima Daiichi plant.
''We have been asking people not to enter the 20-km area to protect their health and safety,'' Edano said. ''Unfortunately, despite this situation, there have been some people who have entered the evacuation area. So as one way to effectively prevent this, we are talking with local officials about making it a legally binding caution zone.''
Under law, the heads of cities, towns and villages, who receive a directive from the prime minister, set a certain area as a caution zone, where people other than those engaged in disaster relief are prohibited from entering or are ordered to leave, with punishment for violators.
After the March 11 disaster, the government has directed people within 20 km of the plant to evacuate and those in the 20- to 30-km ring to stay indoors or voluntarily leave the area.
Exactly a month after the quake, Japan expanded evacuation areas beyond the 20-km evacuation zone because of concern over accumulated radioactive materials. Residents in areas subject to the new evacuation order are required to leave in around one month.
Fukushima has been asking Tokyo to impose the order.
Of the 3,378 households in the 20-km ring that the Fukushima prefectural police visited from March 29 through Monday, 63 households remained. Authorities have persuaded most residents to leave, but some have opted to stay.
The sources said the government will postpone setting a part of the town of Hirono, which is located in the 30-km ring around the plant, as an off-limits area. Under last week's government order, Hirono was designated as an area where locals should be prepared for emergency situations that could require them to evacuate or stay indoors.
The chief Cabinet secretary also said the central and local governments are in the ''final stages'' of arranging the temporary return of evacuees and asked them to wait for some time.
Kan told reporters at his office, ''We have not yet decided the details but are studying various plans'' about when to designate the area as off-limits and facilitate the temporary return of evacuees. Edano, meanwhile, said the two operations could take place at the same time.
According to the sources, the prime minister will convey to the Fukushima prefectural government that the evacuees' return will be implemented in stages. To ensure the process is smooth, only one person per family will be allowed to return.
''There are many people in shelters who had to be evacuated and only left with the clothes they were wearing,'' Edano said. ''I believe it is the government's solemn duty to firmly support the lives of these people.''