Local populations facing long-term consequences of nuclear accidents like Fukushima and Chernobyl. Conventional public policies have difficulty addressing the complex, intermingled issues people face like evacuating or staying in contaminated areas. Rebuilding lives and communities involves regaining autonomy and dignity through social processes where local actors and communities rebuild capacity and social bonds with support from public policies. Preparing for nuclear accidents requires societal awareness that contamination causes long-term disruption and loss of normality.
Air breathing and respiratory adaptations in diver animals
Lessons learnt from fukushima & chernobyl
1. 1
Local Population Facing Long
Term Consequences of
Nuclear Accidents:
Lessons Learnt from Fukushima
& Chernobyl
March 22nd 2016 – European Parliament, Brussels
5. 5
Local populations confronted with severe dilemmas:
Evacuating or staying in a contaminated environment both
drastically disrupt daily life and is source of sorrow
Difficult trade-offs between protecting life against radiation and
life constraints (housing, work, food supply,…)
Complexity means that problems are intermingled and cannot
be dealt with separately
Local people experiment loss of control on their own life
Upper levels of decisions are expected to bring support,
information, expertise and means, but distrust is spreading…
Local population have to build trustworthy and reliable
information, in order to build relevant action ?
Many decisions and actions stay in the hands of local actors.
Local actors facing complexity
7. 7
Conventional public policies can hardly address complex and
intermingled issues that people are confronted with
Public authorities can provoke adverse effects like spreading
distrust and damaging social bonds.
Experts have to deal with uncertainties and multi-dimensional
issues that go beyond their own field of expertise
Professionals and business face difficulty when seeking for
restoring sustainable operating conditions in the post-accident
context
Other actors also confronted with complexity
8. 8
Transition paths interacting
Transition paths
Steps, intermediary objectives, rendez-vous pointsNo return to
normality
Persons or families
Local community
Professionals
Public authorities
Experts
Transition paths
Transition paths
Transition paths
Transition paths
Accident
Exchanges between actors
Transition paths
Construction of common good (iterative process)
9. 9
Projects of life, future of families and communities at the core of
local concerns.
Beyond health protection or economical viability, rebuilding life
involves regaining autonomy and dignity.
For each actor, and for the whole system of actors, recovery is a
transition process in which personal, social and collective
resources are needed
Social bonds are to be preserved (or restored) in order to create
conditions for recovery at personal, family and community levels.
Societal cohesion is based on values such as : dignity, truth,
honesty, justice, equity, solidarity, democracy
Rebuilding “a life that worth to live” ?
10. 10
Nuclear accidents have long term & severe consequences for
inhabitants of the territories affected by radioactive contamination
All aspects of life affected at personal and community levels, there is no
return to normality, people experiment loss of control and sorrow
Conventional public policies and social coordination do not cope with
the complex situations and challenges created by long term
contamination
Rebuilding “a life that is worth to live” is a challenge
It involves social processes of recovery where local actors and
communities regain autonomy and capacities, rebuild social bonds
Public policies and upper levels of action have to support (but can
conversely hinder) those processes
Societal awareness of what is a nuclear accident with long term
contamination is a key stake for preparing European Societies
However “preparedness” cannot be understood in the usual meaning of
“organising return to normality”,
Some conclusions…
