Fukushima 10 years on: toxic problem, few solutions

TOKYO/OKUMA, Japan -- When asked about the meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power station, which happened 10 years ago on March 11 and covered northern Japan in a cloud of radioactive debris, Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi is fond of gesturing toward a potted plant in the corner of his Tokyo office. Next to it sits a Geiger counter.

It is a well-practiced ritual for visitors to be invited to take a reading from the soil, which is from Fukushima. It was 0.05 microsieverts per hour of radiation on a day in late February.