2021 Volume 20 Issue 4 Pages 188-205
The testimony of the Fukushima daiichi nuclear accident was used to analyze the factors that led to insufficient safety measures for nuclear power plants in Japan, focusing on the relationship between people in nuclear safety and local citizens. Analysis results revealed that not only were there issues concerning people in nuclear safety themselves, but the complex interaction between them and local citizens was also an important factor. Furthermore, the fact that safety measures for nuclear power plants had improved very little until after the accident is consistent with the Drift into Failure Model. In this model, when some elements of a system are modified to respond to problems, the entire system drifts into failure (such as accidents) because of the unexpected interactions among those modified elements. Although the legislation on Periodic Safety Review (PSR) in 2003 partially improved nuclear power plant safety, it interacted with other elements and led to inadequate safety measures in Japan.
