--- title: Fukushima's Safety in Question | TIME description: Two and a half years since the Fukushima nuclear disaster, contradictory reports of the region's safety leave residents in limbo canonical: https://time.com/video/Tjfl52kz/ og:title: Fukushima's Safety in Question og:description: Two and a half years since the Fukushima nuclear disaster, contradictory reports of the region's safety leave residents in limbo og:url: https://time.com/video/Tjfl52kz/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/Tjfl52kz/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Fukushima's Safety in Question twitter:description: Two and a half years since the Fukushima nuclear disaster, contradictory reports of the region's safety leave residents in limbo twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/Tjfl52kz/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # Fukushima's Safety in Question > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Fukushima's Safety in Question [Watch (HLS stream): Fukushima's Safety in Question](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Tjfl52kz.m3u8) (2:56)  _Published 2013-08-20. Two and a half years since the Fukushima nuclear disaster, contradictory reports of the region's safety leave residents in limbo_ --- Jul 27, 2023 3:41 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [The Removal of Fuel From Fukushima Reactors Begins, Eight Years After the Disaster](/video/jSYJ6FNx/) ### The Removal of Fuel From Fukushima Reactors Begins, Eight Years After the Disaster [Suicide in Fukushima: The Unspoken Legacy of A Disaster](/video/5vARmSEK/) ### Suicide in Fukushima: The Unspoken Legacy of A Disaster [How Japan's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant Disaster Happened](/video/OCaxIAFI/) ### How Japan's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant Disaster Happened --- ## Transcript >> Two and a half years have passed since the Fukushima nuclear disaster and the seaside town of Tomioka is frozen is ruin. Once home to 15, 000 people, the invisible thread of radiation keeps residents away. Although the Japanese government now says it's safe enough for people to come back during the daytime, contradictory reports and the lack of transparency have shaken the public's trust. There's also confusion. Some Tomioka neighborhoods are divided in half by radiation. On one side of the road, people can return home to pick up belongings. On the other, all homes and businesses are still off limits. Russian scientist Marina Khvostova has come to do independent tests. Based on her readings, the government's decision is premature. >> I think it need very many time and very many years that people will come back 100 years, I think. >> 35 miles to the west in the city of Koriyama, more than 500 Tomioka evacuees called this concrete lot home. Though they receive food and lodging from the government with access to a community center and vegetable gardens, a sense of boredom and uncertainty reigns. >> Tamiko Endo, a lifelong farmer, was forced to leave her rice paddies and beef cattle for dead. Her husband has since been hospitalized and her children have moved away for work. -[ Foreign Language ] >> The disaster has been no less jarring for a youth generation that was uprooted from the only communities they have known. With support from Green Cross Switzerland, an anti- nuclear environmental organization, these children are getting a break. At a summer camp that brings together Fukushima families, days are spent taking arts classes and doing small farming projects without fear of contamination. But back in Fukushima, there's more bad news. On August 7th, state officials admitted that 300 tons of radioactive water has been leaking from the plant into the Pacific Ocean everyday since the meltdown. All these months later, the revelation is another sign that the full impact of the March 2011 nuclear disaster is not yet known. >> As far as I know from the village people or the [ unk ] Tomioka or the other villagers, they are now inclining to get the new land for their life and they are now plan to think that to return to home is a kind of illusion. >> For Time Video, this is Jason Motlagh in Tomioka. ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Fukushima's Safety in Question","description":"Two and a half years since the Fukushima nuclear disaster, contradictory reports of the region's safety leave residents in limbo","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/Tjfl52kz/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2013-08-20T17:42:17.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Tjfl52kz.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/video/Tjfl52kz/","duration":"PT2M56S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/video/Tjfl52kz/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}} ```