Risk Analysis as Regulatory Science: Toward The Establishment of Standards.

Michio Murakami

doi:10.1093/rpd/ncw211

Abstract

Understanding how to establish standards is essential for risk communication and also provides perspectives for further study. In this paper, the concept of risk analysis as regulatory science for the establishment of standards is demonstrated through examples of standards for evacuation and provisional regulation values in foods and drinking water. Moreover, academic needs for further studies related to standards are extracted. The concepts of the traditional ‘Standard I’, which has a paternalistic orientation, and ‘Standard II’, established through stakeholder consensus, are then systemized by introducing the current status of the new standards-related movement that developed after the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident, and the perspectives of the standards are discussed. Preparation of standards on the basis of stakeholder consensus through intensive risk dialogue before a potential nuclear power plant accident is suggested to be a promising approach to ensure a safe society and enhance subjective well-being.

Highlights

After the Great East Japan Earthquake on 11 March 2011 and the subsequent nuclear power plant accident at Fukushima, on 17 March 2011 the Japanese government announced provisional regulation values for radioactive materials in drinking water and foods to restrict the distribution of contaminated foods through markets
The public has become conscious of the issue of radioactive materials in drinking water and foods and of the safety of additional effective doses exceeding these regulation values in habitats, and there have been discussions about whether the regulation values are too high or too low
At a press conference on 19 March 2011, Yukio Edano, chief cabinet secretary at the time, explained the provisional regulation values for radioactive materials in drinking water and foods; he said that these values were estimated with consideration of the health effects of ingestion over a lifetime on the basis of recommendations from the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP)(1)

Summary

INTRODUCTION

After the Great East Japan Earthquake on 11 March 2011 and the subsequent nuclear power plant accident at Fukushima, on 17 March 2011 the Japanese government announced provisional regulation values for radioactive materials in drinking water and foods to restrict the distribution of contaminated foods through markets. At a press conference on 19 March 2011, Yukio Edano, chief cabinet secretary at the time, explained the provisional regulation values for radioactive materials in drinking water and foods; he said that these values were estimated with consideration of the health effects of ingestion over a lifetime on the basis of recommendations from the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP)(1) ( this explanation was incorrect, as described later in this paper) In response to these explanations, some members of the public thought that they were still not safe despite values being less than the regulation ones; others thought that the regulation values were not low enough, or that the government or experts were not to be trusted. The perspectives of standards are discussed on the basis of the concept of Standard I and Standard II, in light of the new standard-related movement that has arisen since the nuclear power plant accident in Japan

Safety and risk analysis

Findings

Principal goal