<p>Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's announcement marks a milestone nine months after the March 11 tsunami sent three reactors at the plant into meltdowns in the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl.<br /><br />But experts noted the plant remains vulnerable to more problems and it will take decades to decommission.<br /><br />"The reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant have reached a state of cold shutdown," Noda told a Cabinet meeting.</p>.<p>The government's official endorsement of the claim by Tokyo Electric Power Co. that the reactors have reached cold shutdown status is a necessary step toward revising evacuation zones around the plant and focusing efforts from simply stabilizing the facility to actually starting the arduous process of shutting it down.<br /><br />But its assessment has some important caveats. The government says Fukushima Dai-ichi has reached cold shutdown "conditions" a cautious phrasing reflecting the fact that TEPCO cannot measure temperatures of melted fuel in the damaged reactors in the same way as with normally functioning ones.</p>.<p>Even so, the announcement marks the end of the second phase of the government's lengthy roadmap to completely decommission the plant, which is expected to take 30 years or more.<br /><br />Officials can now start discussing whether to allow some evacuated residents who lived in areas with lesser damage from the plant to return home although a 20-kilometer zone around the plant is expected to remain off limits for years to <br />come. The crisis displaced some 100,000 people. </p>
<p>Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's announcement marks a milestone nine months after the March 11 tsunami sent three reactors at the plant into meltdowns in the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl.<br /><br />But experts noted the plant remains vulnerable to more problems and it will take decades to decommission.<br /><br />"The reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant have reached a state of cold shutdown," Noda told a Cabinet meeting.</p>.<p>The government's official endorsement of the claim by Tokyo Electric Power Co. that the reactors have reached cold shutdown status is a necessary step toward revising evacuation zones around the plant and focusing efforts from simply stabilizing the facility to actually starting the arduous process of shutting it down.<br /><br />But its assessment has some important caveats. The government says Fukushima Dai-ichi has reached cold shutdown "conditions" a cautious phrasing reflecting the fact that TEPCO cannot measure temperatures of melted fuel in the damaged reactors in the same way as with normally functioning ones.</p>.<p>Even so, the announcement marks the end of the second phase of the government's lengthy roadmap to completely decommission the plant, which is expected to take 30 years or more.<br /><br />Officials can now start discussing whether to allow some evacuated residents who lived in areas with lesser damage from the plant to return home although a 20-kilometer zone around the plant is expected to remain off limits for years to <br />come. The crisis displaced some 100,000 people. </p>