* On this very question Mr. Togawa Satoshi of Tepco said to me: “Even after six years, it is feared that the annual radiation won’t go below 20 millisieverts annually. That’s in this red zone”—indicating a map of Tomioka. “In the yellow zone, the annual dose is between 20 to 50 millisieverts. In the green, they are preparing to lift the evacuation order for this area. In this green part the infrastructure for carrying out normal life has almost recovered, and also the good decontamination work has been begun for where kids are. When all these conditions are cleared, people can return.”

I asked: “If people were in the green area, could fallout from the reactor come back to them?”

His colleague Mr. Hitosugi Yoshimi replied: “We have evaluated the level in our premises, and basically, there’s no new source of radiation. We are working so the people can come back as soon as possible. For that, Fukushima has to be in a stable condition. So we have to go forward with the demolition of the reactor.”—I took his meaning to be: Under certain conditions the green zones could get recontaminated.