Disagreeing with ‘local agreement’: a survey of public attitudes toward restarting the Hamaoka nuclear power plant

Abstract

The resumption of Japan’s NPPs has become a controversial issue since the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in 2011. Although local agreement is a significant process of the resumption, the attitude of the general public toward the local agreement process has received little attention. This study uses a postal questionnaire survey with stratified random sampling to investigate the case of the Hamaoka NPP. Results show that the conventional way of seeking local agreement is not generally supported by the public. This may be explained by apparent widespread support for the participation of broader geographical areas, including those affected by reputational damage and urban areas consuming electricity, and by a general distrust of local governments/assemblies and the ‘experts’. It was also found that respondent attitudes regarding local agreement differ depending on the respondent’s position on the restart as well as the area in which the respondent resides.