Young Researchers’ Association

9:40 am start(Session 3), 16 May 2017, at Lisbon Portugal,

17th European ALARA Network workshop on "ALARA in emergency exposure situations"

Experience of Activities in Q&A
about Radiation in Daily Life
after Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear
Power Plant Accident
Takahiko Kono1), 2), Akihiro Sakoda1), 2)

1) Young Researchers’ Association, Japan Health Physics Society2) Japan Atomic Energy Agency

Outline of presentation
1. Introduction
2. Activities using Question and Answer
Website about radiation in Daily Life
3. Analysis of the questions and thequestioners
4. Summary

1. IntroductionYoung Researchers’ Association in JHPS(1)u Young Researchers’ Association(YRA) in Japan Health PhysicSociety(JHPS) since 1987 with 7 voluntary membersu About 40 engineers and researchers (as of April 2017) younger than 36years old from private companies, research institutions or academiau We specialize in radiation protection, environmental radioactivity, etc

Written by both
Japanese and English

YRA homepage
http://www.jhps.or.jp/wakate/english.html

YRA Facebook page Please like us!!
https://www.facebook.com/wakate.jhps/

Young Researchers’ Association in JHPS(2)u Our main purpose of activities1) To exchange information and discuss latest knowledge about radiation
protection among the members via periodical workshops and mailinglist.
2) To engage in educational activities on radiation protection to thepublic3) To cultivate domestic and international relationships with young
people of other scientific bodies (like EAN)

2. Activities using Questionand Answer Website about
radiation in Daily Life

Background

The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident happened. (11 March 2011)			

Artificial radionuclides to the environment	
This fact made people upset and anxious.	

Volunteers of JHPS built up a website named Questions and Answers aboutRadiation in Daily Life. (from 25 March 2011)			

For providing accurate information about radiation
and radioactivity via website to the public	

Steering Committee of this Q&A site was officially established in JHPS.
(24 August 2011)	
We describe an outline of the contents of questions sent to our Q&Awebsite and experience of activities for about two years after theFukushima accident.	

Q&A website in daily life of JHPSThe Top page on Q&A Website ( http://radi-info.com/ ) (in Japanese)	

Example of Q&A on Website 	Steering Committee of Q&A site in JHPS(1)Japan Health Physics Society
Executive Committee	
Steering Committee of Q&A
about Radiation in Daily life	

Japan Standardization
Committee on Radiation
Protection	

Foreign Affairs Committee	

Editorial Board	Strategic Planning Committee	

Activity period:
From August 2011 to March 2013
Established in JHPS in 24 August 2011	
The committee Members (53 persons)
Breakdown：	
・ 5 Executive members	
・ 7 Senior Expert members	
・ 24 Young Researchers Associationmembers	
・ 17 Student’s Association members	Steering Committee of Q&A site in JHPS(2)The correspondence process of answering
1)  Questions  from  the  public	
Q&A  website  about  Radiation  in  Daily  Life	（h"p://radi-­‐‑info.com/） 	

Steering  Commi;ee  of  Q&A  about  Radiation  in  Daily  Life	
Group  to  answer  questions	6)  Send  the  answers’  drafts	 Group 1 (Monday)
Leader：1 person	
Secretariat	
7)  Conﬁrmation	

2)  Conﬁrmation  of  questions	Sub leader ：1 person	
Other ：2 persons	9)  Finalize  the  Group 2 (Tuesday)
answers	

Group 3 (Wednesday)
Executive members	10)  Post  the   8)  Final  conﬁrmation  of  answers	 Group 4 (Thursday)
answers  on  Group 5 (Friday)
3)  Assign  questions	the  website	Secretariat	
Secretariat	

1 expert	
1 expert	
1 expert	
1 expert	
1 expert	4),  5)  Share  questions,  conﬁrmation  of  experts	

Secretariat  sends  questions  every  day  to  each  group	Steering Committee of Q&A site in JHPS(3)Basic stance of our committee for answering	1) To answer politely all questions from questioners	
・Do not ignore similar questions		
2) To say objective fact	
・We calculate dose using reliable information and compare 	
with scientific data. 	
(Natural background and Epidemiological study)		
3) To say our idea indirectly		4) To commit final judgment to questioners	

The publication of a book about Q&A website
・JHPS published a book(in Japanese)on July 2013 for sharing the correct
information on radiation and ouractivities for the two years.
This book mainly presents:- The essence of all Q&A- The result of the time series analysisof the questions and questioners- The basic knowledge on generalradiation protection

The Presentation to IRPA-13 at Glasgow
・We presented our activity experiences
after Fukushima Accident as a poster
presentation in IRPA-13(May 2013) atGlasgow, Scotland.
-You can see our presentation on IRPA
website as follows:
Poster presentation
http://www.irpa.net/members/P12.64.pdf
Proceedings
http://www.irpa.net/members/P12.64fp.pdf

3. Analysis of the questions
and the questioners

(1) Change of the number of the questions
180

140
120

100

Stopped periodof contribution
Stopped period ofto
the website
contribution to the
5/26-6/5,
website
7/2-8/21
5/26〜～6/5, 7/2〜～8/21

RestartRestartofof
contribution to thecontribution
towebsite 8/22〜～
the website 8/21-80
60
40
20
0
3/26～4/5
4/6～4/15
4/16～4/25
4/26～5/5
5/6～5/15
5/16～5/25
5/26～6/5
6/6～6/15
6/16～6/25
6/26～7/1
7/2～7/11
7/12～7/21
7/22～8/1
8/2～8/11
8/12～8/21
8/22～9/1
9/2～9/11
9/12～9/21
9/22～10/2
10/3～10/12
10/13～10/22
10/23～11/2
11/3～11/12
11/13～11/22
11/23～12/3
12/4～12/13
12/14～12/23
12/24～1/3
1/4～1/13
1/14～1/23
1/24～2/3
2/4～2/13
2/14～2/23
2/24～3/1

The number of questions

The number of questions

160

postedon thewebsite
Timepostedon thewebsite
2011 Time2012

(2) A questioners' characteristics
Man	Unlisted	

39%

17%

Total
1867  10s, 1%	20s, 7%	

[Investigation period]
March 2011- March2013 (for 2 years)
Unlisted	

44%
Woman	

These data werebased on selfreported results fromquestioners

Company employee	
Student, 2%	

Unlisted	

1) Sex	

23%

Others	

11%

55%

12%

Public Officer, 2%	

Self-owned
business, 1%	Total  798  44%Full-time
housewife	2) Occupation of the woman	

Total1867  21%

30s	

11%
40s	
50s, 3%	
60s, 2%	
70s, 1%	
80s, 1%	

3) Age	(3) Question  contents- We classified question contents from questioners based on 11items.
[Investigationperiod]
10%	

March 2011- March2013 (for 2 years)

Exposure	Radioactive material	

9%	

Health effect	Child	42%	

Total
6473

8%	
6%	

Decontamination	
Contamination	
Atomic Energy	
Infant	Radiation	

5%	

3%	

3%	

Diet	Others	(4) Main issues on the activitiesu We

couldn’t confirm directly whether questioners
were able to understand our answers because ofanswering questions via Internet.
⇒Namely it was Not face to face.
u Butwe think it was good we answered questions
rapidly and carefully right after the accident.
⇒It was very important as responses to the public in
the early stage after the accident.

4. Summary

Summaryu Most   of   questioners   were   full-‐‑‒time   housewives   in   their   20s   to  40s.

⇒Many   women   worried   about   the   health   eﬀects   of   radiation   ontheir children.
u These question contents were gradually changed depending on thecircumstances of the accident over time.

u The  number  of  questions  to  the  website  tended  to  decrease  with  time.  

u We published a book about Q&As  on July 2013.
u We believe our activities have been generally able to contribute to

reduction of the people’s anxiety about radiation effects due to theThank you for your attention!!
My email address: kono.takahiko@jaea.go.jp
I hope to keep in touch with you in the future!
Appearance of main activities in YRA of JHPS