The Environment Ministry said Thursday it now aims to finish cleaning up areas outside the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear complex most seriously tainted by radiation by the end of March 2017.
The ministry wanted to finish the work at 11 cities, towns and villages in Fukushima Prefecture by the end of next March, or about three years after the nuclear crisis began. But that has been delayed by the difficulty of finding enough places to temporarily store the tainted soil and other waste.
"We reviewed the plans so that they will be realistic. We will proceed with the decontamination work, offering a detailed response to local needs," Environment Minister Nobuteru Ishihara said.