If a disaster were to occur at one of country's remaining 50 nuclear reactors, the most critically needed personnel in the minutes and hours immediately afterward might not be doctors, nurses or firefighters, but bus drivers.
The discovery comes as localities around Japan are due to submit updated plans Monday to the central government for evacuating residents living within 30 km of atomic energy plants. The deadline is unlikely to be met by all but a handful.
Current guidelines call for evacuating those within 8 to 10 km. The new 30-km standard means those plans must be expanded to evacuate 4.8 million people living in 135 cities, towns and villages. Some local governments said they will miss Monday's deadline and plan to release their revised guidelines this summer.