Reply #61: It's the people in Fukushima and, to a lesser extent, northern Ibaraki

[Art_from_Ark]

who will pay the highest price for this nuclear disaster.

The 30km combined mandatory/recommended evacuation zone right now covers about 1/10 the area of Fukushima Prefecture (think of it as covering 1/10 the land area of Connecticut). They are talking of expanding that. The largest city on the cusp of that zone is Iwaki, which has a population of more than 350,000. Imagine trying to evacuate all those people.

The disaster has already severely affected food products from the area-- no one wants to buy Fukushima food products, and Ibaraki farm products are also suffering, even though the only Ibaraki farm product that has recently not passed radiation tests is spinach (according to the Ibaraki Shimbun newspaper). Of course, the fishing industry is also damaged, as are the supporting industries. Many roads are still in poor condition, and an earthquake earlier this week re-damaged part of an expressway that serves Iwaki. So those folks up in Iwaki and surrounding area are the ones who face the greatest nuclear-related risk at this time.