TEPCO's risk communication activities in Fukushima Prefecture in light of the lessons learned from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station accident

This paper introduces the risk communication activities of the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) in Fukushima Prefecture. It analyzed the organizational cause as the background for the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station Accident, and concluded that the root cause of the accident is the thought that 'safety has already been secured, and operation rate and the like are important management issues, which incurred the insufficient preparedness for accident.' It has taken six measures as nuclear safety reform plans. One of these is the 'enhancement of risk communication activities.' The nuclear power leader take the initiative to disclose risk under the idea that 'there is no absolute safety (zero risk) in nuclear power,' and promote risk communication for continuously obtaining the understanding of the regional community and society about safety measures, etc. To implement risk communication, 'risk communicators' are installed, and they propose for the management and nuclear leader, about the risk perception and measures associated with public disclosure and its limit, and perform risk communication in accordance with the policy. As the examples of these initiatives, this paper introduces the cases of Fukushima Prefecture, questionnaire study, and evaluations by international organizations. (A.O.)