An evacuee from Futaba Town in Fukushima Prefecture made a comment expressing concern about the first test retrieval of fuel debris from a reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Watanabe Koichi was evacuated from Futaba, a town that hosts the power plant, following the nuclear accident there in 2011. He now lives in Koriyama City in the prefecture.

He made a comment after the operator of the power plant announced on Thursday that it had completed the first test retrieval of fuel debris from one of the damaged reactors.

He said it was good that the debris was retrieved but the amount was a "scoop of an ear pick." He said he is worried that something could happen again as he has seen how horrible a nuclear accident is.

He said he thinks it will take many years to retrieve all the debris, but he hopes it will be taken out completely all the way through. He added he wants the decommissioning work to proceed even if it takes until his grandchildren's or great-grandchildren's generation.

A woman, who is from Namie Town in the prefecture and opened a restaurant six months ago in Okuma, another town that hosts the power plant, also commented on the fuel debris retrieval.

Ikeda Takayo said the operation has finally made it to the starting line, but she thinks the retrieval will take about 50 years to complete.

Ikeda noted she just hopes the decommissioning work will go smoothly and both local people and those from outside of the prefecture will support the ongoing task.