Assessment of Radiation Risk Perception and Interest in Tritiated Water among Returnees to and Evacuees from Tomioka Town within 20 km of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant

Xu Xiao (), Hitomi Matsunaga, Makiko Orita, Yuya Kashiwazaki, Yasuyuki Taira, Thu Zar Win, Jacques Lochard, Thierry Schneider and Noboru Takamura
Additional contact information
Xu Xiao: Department of Global Health, Medicine and Welfare, Atomic Bomb Disease Institute, Nagasaki University, 1-12-4 Sakamoto, Nagasaki 852-8523, Japan
Hitomi Matsunaga: Department of Global Health, Medicine and Welfare, Atomic Bomb Disease Institute, Nagasaki University, 1-12-4 Sakamoto, Nagasaki 852-8523, Japan
Makiko Orita: Department of Global Health, Medicine and Welfare, Atomic Bomb Disease Institute, Nagasaki University, 1-12-4 Sakamoto, Nagasaki 852-8523, Japan
Yuya Kashiwazaki: Department of Global Health, Medicine and Welfare, Atomic Bomb Disease Institute, Nagasaki University, 1-12-4 Sakamoto, Nagasaki 852-8523, Japan
Yasuyuki Taira: Department of Global Health, Medicine and Welfare, Atomic Bomb Disease Institute, Nagasaki University, 1-12-4 Sakamoto, Nagasaki 852-8523, Japan
Thu Zar Win: Department of Global Health, Medicine and Welfare, Atomic Bomb Disease Institute, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, 1-12-4 Sakamoto, Nagasaki 852-8523, Japan
Jacques Lochard: Department of Global Health, Medicine and Welfare, Atomic Bomb Disease Institute, Nagasaki University, 1-12-4 Sakamoto, Nagasaki 852-8523, Japan
Thierry Schneider: Nuclear Protection Evaluation Center (CEPN), 92260 Fontenay-aux-Roses, France
Noboru Takamura: Department of Global Health, Medicine and Welfare, Atomic Bomb Disease Institute, Nagasaki University, 1-12-4 Sakamoto, Nagasaki 852-8523, Japan

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 3, 1-12

Abstract: In this study, we aimed to investigate radiation risk perception, mental health, and interest in tritiated water among evacuees from and returnees to Tomioka town, Japan, as well as to evaluate the intention to return (ITR) among evacuees living inside and outside Fukushima Prefecture. Of the 1728 respondents, 318 (18.4%) and 1203 (69.6%) participants reported living outside and inside Fukushima Prefecture, and 207 (12.0%) reported living in Tomioka. The ITR was not significantly different between those who lived inside and outside the prefecture among the evacuees. Similarly, there were no significant differences in radiation risk perception, mental health, and interest in tritiated water. However, the evacuees were independently associated with a motivation to learn about tritiated water (OR = 1.242, 95%Cl: 1.041–1.438, p = 0.016), reluctance to consume food from Tomioka (OR = 1.635, 95%Cl: 1.372–1.948, p < 0.001), and concern that adverse health effects would occur because of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident (OR = 1.279, 95%Cl: 1.055–1.550, p = 0.012) compared to returnees, according to logistic regression analysis. Interestingly, the returnees were found to have better mental health but lower life satisfaction than the evacuees. These findings suggest the importance of ongoing risk communication about radiation exposure and tritiated water among residents regardless of their place of residency.

Keywords: Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident; risk perception; tritiated water; returnee; evacuee (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/3/2690/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/3/2690/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:3:p:2690-:d:1055901

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().