TOKYO -- Ten years have passed since a 9.0 earthquake, tsunami and triple meltdown mercilessly slammed Fukushima, Miyagi and Iwate prefectures, leaving northeastern Japan a cleanup job so massive that it continues today, especially around the crippled nuclear plant.
There are towns near the reactors to which former residents are still unable to return. Radioactive material remains piled up, and contaminated water poses a storage problem that the Pacific Ocean might be called on to solve.