Risk perception regarding a nuclear accident and common factors related to health among guardians residing near a restarted nuclear power plant in Japan after the Fukushima accident

Abstract

Ten years have passed since the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) accident in Japan, and nine of 33 reactors have gradually been restarted following the new regulations outlined by the Nuclear Regulatory Authority. The purpose of the study was to assess the risk perception regarding a nuclear accident and to identify common factors related to health among guardians residing near the Genkai Nuclear Power Plant (GNPP), one of the nuclear power plants restarted after the FDNPP accident. We distributed self-administered questionnaires to approximately 3400 guardians of children in 36 kindergartens located around the GNPP, including the precautionary action zone and the urgent protective action planning zone. We obtained responses from 2249 guardians. Results showed that 58.9% of guardians thought that genetic effects would occur among the generations who were children at the time of the FDNPP accident. In contrast, 28.8% of guardians were anxious about their children consuming foods from Fukushima. Regression analysis showed that females were 1.9 times more anxious about administering prophylactic stable iodine (SI) than male guardians. A total of 1.5 times more female than male guardians considered that genetic effects would occur in the generations who were children at the time of the FDNPP accident. Interestingly, there was no significant relationship between overall risk perception and the distance of guardians’ residence to the GNPP.