Some evacuees from the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe will have to wait years longer before they can return home after Japan admitted its radiation clean-up in the most contaminated towns is behind schedule.

Kawauchi, a farming village 30km from the site of the world’s worst atomic disaster in 25 years, feared for its future as radiation from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant soaked into the soil.

Japan is marking the second anniversary of the devastating earthquake and tsunami which left nearly 19,000 people dead or missing and more than 300,000 people still displaced.