Japan plans Fukushima cleanup

FUTABA, Japan, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- Japan is planning to clean up the radiation around the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant with hopes 90,000 displaced people can return home, officials said.

The scope of the massive plan, which would cover 3 percent of the country's landmass, is unprecedented, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

Along with scrubbing thousands of buildings, topsoil from an area the size of Connecticut must be replaced and forested mountains will need to be decontaminated, the newspaper said.

Tatsuhiko Kodama, director of the Radioisotope Center at the University of Tokyo, said he believes cleanup is possible but said many evacuated residents won't see it completed in their lifetimes.