After and Beyond Fukushima: Probing the Role and Potential of Citizen Science in Nuclear Science and Technology Governance in Japan and Belgium – Part 4

This presentation gives an overview of the aims, preliminary findings, and impacts of a two-year (2017-2019) social science research project, funded by the Research Fund - Flanders (FWO) and the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). The project seeks to answer three research questions: a) What forms does citizen science take after the Fukushima Daiichi disaster in Japan and how do these forms relate to citizen-science initiatives in other countries and contexts?; b) What is the real or potential uptake of citizen-science concepts, methods, and toolsets in institutional approaches to preparedness and response to nuclear incidents/accidents and post-disaster situations?; c) Based on (a) and (b), what are the possibilities and limitations of incorporating citizen-science concepts and practices into Belgian and European approaches to nuclear emergency response, preparedness, and recovery? It is motivated by a concern shared by many (governments, regulatory bodies, scientists, citizens) to heed lessons from the Fukushima disaster and to sustain a more fruitful dialogue between all concerned actors. In Japan, these actors now invariably include citizen scientists, who to this day monitor radioactivity in disaster-affected areas and openly share data on environmental radiation and risks. By generating their own participatory, open-source data, do-it-yourself measurement devices, and radiation maps, they challenge conventional approaches to nuclear safety management. The research project considers how this challenge is articulated and received to gain a better understanding of how citizen-science concepts, tools and methods are, or can be, integrated into existing approaches to nuclear incidents/accidents and emergency situations. By comparing citizen-science practices and initiatives, it sheds light on citizen science as an emerging pattern of governance and probes its problem-solving capacities and long-term viability in two distinct cases: i) post-disaster Japan, which has a long tradition of citizen participation in science and technology, and ii) Belgium, which like Japan relies on nuclear science and technology, but where citizen engagement in the nuclear field is presently limited to radioactive waste governance.