The FY2024 edition of the Nuclear White Paper, published annually by the Atomic Energy Commission of the Cabinet Office, features a column titled “Stakeholder Involvement in Fukushima” highlighting our organization’s Dialogues and the initiatives carried out in the Suetsugi district.
Below is an overview of the published column.
(The full Japanese text can be downloaded from the Cabinet Office’s website.)
Column — Stakeholder Involvement in Fukushima
Building trust requires mutual understanding and open communication. To achieve this, it is essential to involve stakeholders—people who have an interest in or are affected by the issue. The International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP), a leading international scientific body that recommends the framework and standards for radiological protection, has emphasized that in areas contaminated by a nuclear power plant accident, both local residents and experts should be directly involved in addressing the situation. It also states that national and local governments have a responsibility to create conditions that allow residents to make their own informed decisions.
Acting on this principle, the ICRP began hosting dialogue meetings (“Dialogues”) in Fukushima Prefecture in November 2011, following the accident at the Tokyo Electric Power Company’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. From 2016 to 2018, the events were organized by local volunteers with ICRP’s support. Since 2019, they have been hosted by the non-profit organization Fukushima Dialogue. These gatherings bring together not only local residents, but also experts and government officials from Japan and abroad. As of March 2025, 26 Dialogues have been held.
The ICRP has also supported a community-led radiological measurement project in Suetsugi, a district in northern Iwaki City. Local residents took the lead in measuring ambient dose rates, soil radioactivity, external and internal exposures, and radioactive contamination in food. They regularly discussed the results together. This initiative follows what the ICRP calls the “co-expertise” approach—experts and local stakeholders working side by side, combining scientific knowledge with local experience to understand the radiological situation and take actions to improve living conditions.
In Suetsugi, the work was guided by three principles: dialogue, measurement, and community projects. Over time, the focus of local residents shifted from radiological protection to broader recovery efforts. Both the Dialogues and the Suetsugi project exemplify genuine two-way communication, where experts do not impose conclusions but instead listen, exchange views, and learn about local concerns. In turn, residents gain access to expert knowledge and different perspectives. Such approaches offer valuable lessons for building trust—not only in radiological protection and recovery, but in many other fields as well.