The Years After a Facility Disaster: Public Risk Perceptions and Associated Images in Japan and France of Radioactive Substances in Food

Abstract

The Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant accident in March 2011 has renewed public perceptions of risks related to nuclear facilities. In particular, the risks associated with radioactive food contamination are an important perspective in analysing the relationship between the perceptions of the wider public and the assessments of experts. What was the image of that risk revealed by this disaster? In focus group interviews conducted in 2014, both in Japan and France, a serious emotional image was strong. In Japan, the perception of risk was higher than in reality, although faced with real accidents. In France, there was low trust in public authorities and high levels of psychological avoidance, although this was addressed in school education. In Japan, despite experiencing the use of nuclear bombs at the end of World War II and the contamination of fishing boats by nuclear tests in the Pacific, awareness of risk control through food testing, which has now been done, was very poor. In France, in the light of the Chernobyl accident, a loss of confidence in the authorities’ discourse is characteristic. Overall, public education and risk communication are not without effect and trust in the state is maintained. However, perceptions of risk at large facilities are at the extremes of excessive and unforeseen, both in the event of accidents and in their preparedness. This study opens a discussion on the gap between risk assessment and risk perception in risk management related to nuclear facilities, and the challenges of risk communication based on this gap.