An evacuee from the city of Futaba in Fukushima Prefecture has made a comment expressing concern over the first test of recovering fuel scraps from a reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

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

He made the comments after the plant’s operator announced on Thursday that it had completed the first test to recover fuel scraps from one of the damaged reactors.

He said it was good the debris was recovered, but the amount was “an earful”. He said he’s worried something could happen again because he’s seen how horrible a nuclear accident is.

He said he thinks it will take many years to recover all the debris, but he hopes it will be completely removed. He added that he wants the decommissioning work to continue 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 plant, also commented on the recovery of fuel scraps.

Ikeda Takayo said the operation has finally reached the starting line, but he believes the recovery will take about 50 years.

Ikeda noted that he only hopes that the decommissioning work will go smoothly and that both locals and those outside the prefecture will support the ongoing task.