Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
10504547 Environmental Science & Policy 2016 9 Pages PDF
Abstract
We quantitatively analyzed changes in residents' perceptions of the net benefits derived from the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power station (KK) before and after the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi plant (FD) following the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011. Employing data from two surveys-conducted in January 2010 and December 2011 before and after FD accident, respectively-we found that KK's perceived net benefits declined after the FD accident. This decline resulted from changes in respondents' relative weightings of KK's costs and benefits rather than heightened expectations of future nuclear accidents. We also found that residents living near nuclear facilities are more concerned about health risks from nuclear accidents than the likelihood of such accidents caused by human error. We suggest that a more effective policy entails changing people's relative weighting of nuclear facilities' costs and benefits by protecting lives through enhanced evacuation planning and post-disaster support for rehabilitation, although Japan's current nuclear power policy aims to assuage people's risk perceptions by reducing the probability of nuclear accidents to zero.
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering Energy Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
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