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Gov't may lift evacuation advisory outside 20-km zone in Sept.(Japan Economic Newswire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) TOKYO, Sept. 20 -- (Kyodo) _ The government is aiming to lift by the end of September its advisory for residents living in areas outside the 20-kilometer zone around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant that have been designated for evacuation in the event of an emergency, Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said Tuesday. The move came after five municipalities in Fukushima Prefecture, all or parts of which are designated as emergency evacuation preparation zones in the 20- to 30-km ring from the power station, had submitted to the central government by Tuesday their "recovery plans," a precondition for lifting the advisory. "We believe requirements have been met to lift the designation of the emergency evacuation preparation zones," Fujimura, the top government spokesman, said at a press conference. The government plans to draw a conclusion on the issue from its nuclear disaster task force, with an eye to lifting the advisory within September, Fujimura said. The recovery plans spell out the details of decontaminating the areas and rebuilding basic infrastructure to facilitate the return of residents. The advisory covers five municipalities -- the entire town of Hirono and parts of Naraha, Kawauchi, Tamura and Minamisoma -- where roughly 58,500 residents have been told to be prepared to evacuate or remain indoors in the event of an emergency. About 25,000 of them have evacuated. The municipal governments of Kawauchi and Tamura said they are planning to allow residents to return to their homes next March, while Hirono noted it would do so by the end of 2012. Minamisoma did not mention the timing in its recovery plan and Naraha said it would bring its residents home upon the lifting of the central government's designation of the 20-km no-go zone around the nuclear plant. Nonetheless it will be difficult for such residents to return home easily based on the recovery plans, as it remains unclear how radioactive materials in the mountain areas can be decontaminated, observers said. For example, Kawauchi, which unveiled its recovery plan last week, said it would take around 20 years to clean up radiation-tainted forests. In August, the central government said it would lift the evacuation advisory outside the 20 km zone around the Fukushima plant in the near future, saying there is only a slight risk of cooling system failures at the plant and radiation exposure levels are very low in the area. The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was crippled by the devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami. (c) 2011 Kyodo News International, Inc. |