A report that Fukushima residents are concerned about radiation from Land, Food and Radon

Abstract

The Great East Japan Earthquake and subsequent TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster occurred on 11 March 2011, which caused the leakage of radioactive materials into the environment. In this study, we report public concerns about radiation in Fukushima and Tokyo almost one year after the nuclear disaster. We examined the public concerns by analyzing the data from 1022 participants, 555 in Fukushima and 467 in Tokyo. They were asked whether they were concerned about radiation from some of six different types of sources, which could be answered in a binary way, ‘yes’ or ‘no’. We found not only similarities, but also significant differences in the degrees of concerns between Fukushima residents and Tokyo ones. Fukushima residents more concerned about radiation from land, food and radon in larger rate than that of Tokyo ones, while Tokyo residents were concerned about radiation from medical care. Residents in neither location were concerned about radiation from space. Our results suggested that careful risk communication should be undertaken, adaptively organized depending on location and other factors, e.g. comprehension about radiation, presence of the experience of evacuation, and also age and gender of the people.

Diversity of Concerns in Recovery after a Nuclear Accident: A Perspective from Fukushima

“… Taking in radioactive materials in water or food, such as in wild foods in contaminated areas ( internal exposure ). Some people are worried about the contamination of the water supply systems and food chain [ 73 , 74 , 75 , 76 ]. …”

Determinants of support for the “Recycling Demonstration Project for the Soil Generated from Decontamination Activities” in postdisaster Fukushima, Japan

“…Karasawa & Todayama, 2013). As many researchers have emphasised the importance of risk communication between the public and government agencies (Shineha & Tanaka, 2018;Tamari et al, 2016), the agencies may need to be orientated more toward interactive dialogue rather than "educating" the public.…”

Relationship between death attitude and risk perception of radiation

“…DA has also been reportedly related to the risk perception of radiation (RPR). Numerous researchers have observed that fear of radiation is widespread among Fukushima prefecture residents (e.g., McCurry, 2011;Suzuki et al, 2015); hence, the importance of solid information about the determinants of RPR has been noted by various scholars (e.g., Goodwin, Takahashi, Sun, & Gaines, 2012;Tamari et al, 2016).…”