After and Beyond Fukushima: Probing the Role and Potential of Citizen Science in Nuclear Science and Technology Governance in Japan and Belgium

In this presentation, we discuss the role of citizen science in the governance of nuclear incidents/accidents in emergency preparedness, response and post-disaster recovery. Starting from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, we (1) trace the expansion of citizen science in the nuclear field to other countries and contexts; (2) ask how citizen-science concepts, methods, and toolsets challenge institutional approaches to preparedness and response to nuclear incidents/accidents and post-disaster situations; and how nuclear safety authorities respond to such challenges; (3) probe the possibilities of incorporating citizen-science concepts and practices into Belgian and European approaches to nuclear emergency response, preparedness, and recovery. Our research draws on qualitative methods in Interpretive Policy Analysis and Science and Technology Studies to highlight the contentious politics that characterize interactions between citizen scientists and nuclear authorities in Japan and other countries. It anticipates the emergence of hybrid citizen-science forms, comprising material artifacts (e.g. new radioactivity measurement devices) and discourses (e.g. on the role of science in society), which simultaneously challenge and accommodate institutional approaches to nuclear emergency preparedness and response. By comparing citizen-science initiatives in Japan and Belgium, the project sheds light on citizen science as an emerging pattern of governance and probes its problem-solving capacities and long-term viability.