KAWAUCHI, FUKUSHIMA PREF. – The government said Sunday that it was considering lifting its evacuation advisory on Oct. 1 for the eastern part of the village of Kawauchi, located within 20 km of the wrecked Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. The government will formalize the lifting at a meeting of its nuclear disaster response headquarters later this month. It will be the second district in Fukushima Prefecture where an evacuation advisory has been removed within the former exclusion zone set up after the March 2011 triple meltdown at the plant operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co. The first to see its advisory lifted was Miyakoji district in the city of Tamura. The no-go zone within the 20-km radius of the stricken plant has been redesignated according to estimated levels of radiation. The government also proposed removing a ban on residency in a more contaminated eastern part of Kawauchi and is expected to advise residents there to prepare for the lifting of the evacuation advisory. At a meeting with local residents, Kazuyoshi Akaba, state minister of economy, trade and industry, put forward two proposals regarding when to remove the evacuation advisory for the less polluted area in eastern Kawauchi. One is Aug. 26, after the end of a long-stay program that has been implemented in preparation for residents’ return to their homes. The other is Oct. 1, following the completion of road repair and other construction work slated for sometime in September. Some residents opposed the removal of the evacuation advisory, citing concerns over exposure to radiation from the damaged plant. But Mayor Yuko Endo decided to accept the Oct. 1 option, saying the lifting of the advisory does not mean that residents will be forced to return home. Government representatives presented residents with survey results showing that radiation doses in the eastern part of the village have been reduced as a result of decontamination work. They also reported on progress in the recovery of infrastructure. The eastern part of Kawauchi was previously within the 20-km exclusion zone. In April 2012, the district was reorganized into an area where residents are allowed to enter during the daytime and a more contaminated area where residency is banned. After decontamination work ran its course, a long-stay program was launched in the less contaminated area on April 26. In July, the government proposed lifting the evacuation advisory on July 26, but dropped the plan due to opposition from residents. As of June 1, there were 139 households with 275 people in the less polluted area and 18 households with 54 members in the other area.