Students from third grade through junior high in Fukushima who are unable to attend school because of their parents' lost income and job opportunities when the nuclear power plant got crippled in 2011 may now be able to renew their education in the central Japanese city of Matsumoto.

Akira Sugenoya, a doctor who performed surgery on more than 100 children after the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 and who is now the mayor of Matsumoto, said he is most willing to accept in his hometown Fukushima's children to ensure their well-being and safety.

"If my fears turn out to be unfounded, nothing would be better news," Mr Sugenoya told the Associated Press. "But if they become reality, then there is little time before it's too late."

Starting April 2014, Fukushima parents may opt to send their children away from the area with the crippled radioactive nuclear power plant to attend school in Matsumoto, some 300 kilometres away. Parents need not worry paying for tuition as the Matsumoto government will take care of that; all they need to worry is to scout funds to pay for their children's expenses such as utilities and meals.

The Matsumoto city government, meantime, will shoulder 1.4 million yen ($140,000) per year for a six-bedroom house and caretakers.

Mr Sugenoya specifically focuses on the Fukushima children because they are the ones most susceptible to potentially life-altering effects on the radiation being emitted by the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant.

He told AP that children, compared to the adults, are far more sensitive to radiation-caused diseases because their bodies are still developing. It is along this context that given a chance to get away from the radiation hit site, the children's bodies can still bounce back and heal from the damage of radiation.

According to latest government figures in Japan, there were already 44 confirmed cases of thyroid cancer among the 217,000 children of Fukushima state.

Matsumoto, located in Nagano prefecture, has only 240,000 people because of a declining population. It currently has 200 Fukushima refugees.