NYT-1201: STATE OF THE ART A Thermostat That's Clever, Not ...
NYT-1201: STATE OF THE ART A Thermostat That's Clever, Not ...
NYT-1201: STATE OF THE ART A Thermostat That's Clever, Not ...
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
ut many evacuated residents must accept that it wo<br />
n’t happen in their lifetimes.”<br />
To judge the huge scale of what Japan is contempla<br />
ting, consider that experts say residents can retu<br />
rn home safely only after thousands of buildings a<br />
re scrubbed of radioactive particles and much of t<br />
he topsoil from an area the size of Connecticut is<br />
replaced.<br />
Even forested mountains will probably need to be d<br />
econtaminated, which might necessitate clear-cutti<br />
ng and literally scraping them clean.<br />
The Soviet Union did not attempt such a cleanup af<br />
ter the Chernobyl accident of 1986, the only nucle<br />
ar disaster larger than that at Fukushima Daiichi.<br />
The government instead relocated about 300,000 pe<br />
ople, abandoning vast tracts of farmland.<br />
Many Japanese officials believe that they do not h<br />
ave that luxury; the evacuation zone covers more t<br />
han 3 percent of the landmass of this densely popu<br />
lated nation.<br />
“We are different from Chernobyl,” said Toshitsuna<br />
Watanabe, 64, the mayor of Okuma, one of the town<br />
s that was evacuated. “We are determined to go bac<br />
k. Japan has the will and the technology to do thi<br />
s.”<br />
Such resolve reflects, in part, a deep attachment<br />
to home for rural Japanese like Mr. Watanabe, whos<br />
e family has lived in Okuma for 19 generations. Th<br />
eir heartfelt appeals to go back have won wide sym<br />
pathy across Japan, making it hard for people to o<br />
ppose their wishes.<br />
But quiet resistance has begun to grow, both among<br />
those who were displaced and those who fear the c<br />
ountry will need to sacrifice too much without gua<br />
rantees that a multibillion-dollar cleanup will pr