Articulating Risk(s): Economic and Demographic Challenges in A Nuclear Town

2020 Journal of human security studies  
This article investigates the risks and human insecurities existing in the local community of Omaezaki City, where the Hamaoka nuclear power plant (NPP) is located. While it had not been physically affected by the events of 3.11 triple disaster, the Omaezaki community was faced with unanticipated crisis. In the wake of the Fukushima nuclear meltdown, the operation at the Hamaoka NPP was suspended and has since remained so, upon a request from the government on 9 May 2011. To many local
more » ... , including the municipality and pro-nuclear lobbyists in Omaezaki, the suspension was a source of disruption in their everyday lives. This qualitative research based on multiple rounds of fieldworks examines the complexity of risk(s) understanding among local residents beyond the bipolar pro/anti nuclear framework. A key concern is how local residents articulate nuclear risk in the context of everyday life. At this local level, pro-nuclear attitudes are being shaped in a climate of mounting economic and demographic uncertainties. The paper discusses aspects of human security in a developed country by focusing on these uncertainties existing long before the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
doi:10.34517/jahss.6.1_38 fatcat:qyhcqosht5a2zb4xgwdcbs6dnu