Investigation of local governments’ preparation for evacuation in nuclear emergency in Japan

Abstract

In Japan, the Nuclear Emergency Response Guidelines were announced in 2015 after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident, and each local government is currently formulating a plan for the evacuation of its residents and a subsequent radioactive contamination inspection. However, there are no reports about the state of preparation of the local governments. Therefore, in this study, we conducted a questionnaire survey regarding the preparation status of each local government responsible for the evacuation of its residents and contamination inspections in Japan and the education training status of staff and summarized the results. Results indicated that 17 of 21 local governments, which answered our questionnaire, have been conducting large-scale evacuation drills at least once a year since 2015 in Japan, demonstrating a high awareness of nuclear emergency response. Conversely, results revealed that the number of local government officials familiar with the evacuation plan and/or contamination inspection flow was small, and issues about education for local government officials were discovered. Statistical analysis suggested that the frequency of training might be related to the high educational needs for risk communication.