The Fukushima dialogue and risk communication

Since the first edition in November 2011 initiated by ICRP, 25 Fukushima dialogue meetings have been held in 12 different municipalities of the Fukushima Prefecture. Based on the Belarus experience in the 1990s and 2000s as part of the rehabilitation of living conditions in the territories contaminated by the Chernobyl accident, the dialogue meetings are offering a fair and transparent forum to share concerns, values and opinions in mutual respect and equal opportunity not only between local residents, but also with experts, government officials, and people from various groups and organisations from Japan and abroad. The Fukushima Dialogue clearly underlined that beyond the fear of radiation, the challenge after a nuclear accident is to empower the affected people to allow them to gradually acquire a practical culture of radiation protection helping them to regain their dignity and project themselves again into the future. The dialogue meetings emphasised that technical risk communication, however precise and substantiated it may be, is not sufficient to address the questions and concerns of those affected by the accident in a context of distrust.