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The 71st Seminar
Risk Communication for Atomic Energy Development
Dr. Kunihiko Shinohara
Senior Principal Researcher, Nuclear Fuel Cycle Engineering Laboratories,
Tokai Research and Development Center, Japan Atomic Energy Agency
Risks of serious accidents and radiation exposure are considered as the social uneasy factors in the atomic energy development. About the perception of risks, there is a gap between experts and general public (non-experts). It is said that the general public tends to be going to judge risk from intuitive fear and a visible concrete instance whereas the experts judge it scientifically.
A company, an administration or experts should disclose relating information about the risks and communicate interactively with the stakeholders to find the way to solve the problem with thinking together. This process is called “risk communication.”
As an example of risk communication for atomic energy development, the activities at Nuclear Fuel Cycle Engineering Laboratories (NCL) of Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) are summarized in the lecture.
The risk messages were designed under the basic policy of showing information clearly that residents want to know. For reflecting the resident requirements directly to the messages, the Massage Working Group has been organized as a collaboration team both with residents and NCL. Some messages have been made and gained better reflections than those made by NCL.
As an interactive communication, “Cycle Friendly Talk” which is direct dialogue within small groups of local residents and NCL staff has been carried out. Three NCL staffs and seven residents are involved in one group of the meeting. More than 700 residents participated in it.