Foreword
The consequences of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident in March 2011 sparked
a debate about the nuclear safety. While releases of large amounts of radioactive
materials resulted in no casualties due to radiation, the impact particularly on local
communities is substantial and manifold. Although local communities want to be
ensured that effective actions are being taken to allow them to go back to their
normal life as early as possible, the lack of understanding for the transport of
radioisotopes in the environment and eventually the uptake in humans as well as in
the biological effects of low dose radiation has made it difficult for various
stakeholders to develop concerted efforts to accelerate recovery. These challenges
are compounded by the eroded public trust for government and operators.
To address this need, a multidisciplinary initiative is carried out by scientists at UC
Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), MINES ParisTech,
and Tokyo University to provide the necessary guidance for effective assessment and
remediation efforts and to provide trusted, unbiased, and nuclear-industry-independent
perspective to build trust with local and global communities.
Based on such on-going initiatives, there are two emerging questions: (1) how
integration between understanding for natural scientific processes and understanding for a society at different scales and regions can be achieved for the objective of
accurate monitoring, and then ultimately (2) how such accurate monitoring and
public participation can and should be integrated in decision-making processes for
achieving a resilient society.
To address such questions and to develop a research plan, we hosted, in March
2015,
2 a two-day international workshop in UC Berkeley. In this workshop, first,
we share various observations about “damages” in a severe nuclear accident and
2
International Workshop on Nuclear Safety: From accident mitigation to resilient society facing
extreme situations. March 2015 (22–24). Supported by: France/Berkeley Fund—Department of
Nuclear Engineering (NE) University of California, Berkeley (UCB), and Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory (LBNL)—Centre for Research into Risks and Crises, MINES Paris
Tech—Center for Japanese Studies, UC Berkeley—Resilience Engineering Research Center, The
University of Tokyo.
ix
The consequences of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident in March 2011 sparked
a debate about the nuclear safety. While releases of large amounts of radioactive
materials resulted in no casualties due to radiation, the impact particularly on local
communities is substantial and manifold. Although local communities want to be
ensured that effective actions are being taken to allow them to go back to their
normal life as early as possible, the lack of understanding for the transport of
radioisotopes in the environment and eventually the uptake in humans as well as in
the biological effects of low dose radiation has made it difficult for various
stakeholders to develop concerted efforts to accelerate recovery. These challenges
are compounded by the eroded public trust for government and operators.
To address this need, a multidisciplinary initiative is carried out by scientists at UC
Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), MINES ParisTech,
and Tokyo University to provide the necessary guidance for effective assessment and
remediation efforts and to provide trusted, unbiased, and nuclear-industry-independent
perspective to build trust with local and global communities.
Based on such on-going initiatives, there are two emerging questions: (1) how
integration between understanding for natural scientific processes and understanding for a society at different scales and regions can be achieved for the objective of
accurate monitoring, and then ultimately (2) how such accurate monitoring and
public participation can and should be integrated in decision-making processes for
achieving a resilient society.
To address such questions and to develop a research plan, we hosted, in March
2015,
2 a two-day international workshop in UC Berkeley. In this workshop, first,
we share various observations about “damages” in a severe nuclear accident and
2
International Workshop on Nuclear Safety: From accident mitigation to resilient society facing
extreme situations. March 2015 (22–24). Supported by: France/Berkeley Fund—Department of
Nuclear Engineering (NE) University of California, Berkeley (UCB), and Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory (LBNL)—Centre for Research into Risks and Crises, MINES Paris
Tech—Center for Japanese Studies, UC Berkeley—Resilience Engineering Research Center, The
University of Tokyo.
ix