A new high school adjacent to the radiation exclusion zone in Fukushima Prefecture on Wednesday welcomed its first students, including many who fled the area as the 2011 nuclear disaster unfolded.

The prefecture-run Futaba Mirai Gakuen High School in the town Hirono has 152 students, of whom about 100 are from the wider Futaba district and who became evacuees.

The school is located in an area that was once part of the mandatory exclusion zone but has since been declared safe.