FUTABA, Japan – Japanese police sealed off roads leading into an evacuation zone around a radiation-spewing nuclear power plant Friday to enforce an order meant to keep residents from sneaking back to their homes.
Road blocks with large flashing "Off Limits" signs were set up along major streets leading into the 12-mile (20-kilometer ) zone around the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear reactors, where nearly 80,000 people were hurriedly evacuated after last month's earthquake and tsunami crippled the plant's cooling systems.
Before the order went into effect at midnight, residents raced back into their deserted hometowns to grab whatever belongings they could cram into their cars.
"This is our last chance, but we aren't going to stay long. We are just getting what we need and getting out," said Kiyoshi Kitajima, an X-ray technician, who dashed to his hospital in Futaba, a town next door to the plant, to collect equipment.
By Friday morning, the 250 police sent to the area were manning checkpoints and turning people back. They also planned to erect fences on side streets to stop people from entering, said Fukushima police spokesman Yasunori Okazaki. He said it would take some time to do so.
The order was put in place to limit radiation exposure and theft in the mainly deserted zone, where a growing number of people had been returning to check on the remains of their lives. Under a special nuclear emergency law, people who enter the zone are now subject to fines of up to 100,000 yen ($1,200) or possible detention for up to 30 days. There had previously been no punishment.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano appealed Friday for residents of five other areas affected by relatively high levels of radiation outside the main zone to also prepare for evacuation within a month. The government has previously advised people living in those areas to leave, but has not made evacuation mandatory.
"We are very sorry for causing further trouble. I would like residents in those areas to evacuate to other places," Edano said.
But Norio Kanno, chief of Iitate, a village of 6,200, questioned whether everyone would be able to move out within a month.
"It is really vexing. Just one nuclear accident is destroying everything," Kanno said.
The March 11 earthquake and tsunami wrecked Fukushima Dai-ichi's power and cooling systems, triggering a spate of fires, explosions and radiation leaks in what has become the world's second-worst nuclear accident ever. Tokyo Electric Power, its operator, says it will take six to nine months, if all goes according to plan, to stabilize the four worst-affected reactors and bring them into a cold shutdown.
While the levels of radioactivity in the evacuated area have been quite low, the government wants to keep people away out of concerns that long-term exposure can be dangerous.
As of Thursday night, about 40 people remained in the area, many of them dairy farmers who were refusing to leave their cattle, and elderly people who cannot move, the government said. Local officials were working to persuade them to leave, rather than punishing them, according to Kenji Kawasaki of Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.
The no-go order was not issued because of any particular change in plant conditions, which appear to have somewhat stabilized. But it is unclear when or if the government will deem it safe for residents to return to their homes.
Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry said Friday that Prime Minister Naoto Kan approved an extra $50 billion (4 trillion yen) to help finance post-tsunami reconstruction efforts. About 1.2 trillion yen will go to fixing roads and ports.
The twin disasters decimated much of northeastern Japan, leaving more than 27,000 people dead or missing.
The government has said damage could reach $309 billion, making it the world's most expensive natural disaster.
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