Awareness of Necessity for Radiation Risk Communication among Municipalities Adjacent to Nuclear Power Plants in Japan

Abstract

This paper reports results obtained from a questionnaire survey conducted to understand the awareness of radiation risk communication among municipalities adjacent to nuclear power plants. A total of 532 questionnaires were sent by post to the following organizations: 105 local government offices, 66 public health centers or departments, and 151 visiting nursing stations. All these organizations were within 30 km from nuclear power plants across Japan. We analyzed 154 completed surveys from the following respondents: 108 municipal employees, 33 home visiting nurses, and 13 public health nurses. The findings of this study suggest that local municipalities adjacent to nuclear power plants are aware of the necessity to communicate the risk of radiation; however, it has not been sufficiently practiced due to a lack of confidence in basic knowledge of the risk. It is also suggested that there is no consensus on who should take the initiative to communicate the risk. This is because there are differing interests between the nuclear power companies and the municipalities that did or did not invite nuclear plants to their locale. These findings clearly show there is a strong demand to acquire knowledge about risk communication.