Envisioning Next Generation Radiation Governance: Archiving, Regulation, Education, Places

Terasaki Center For Japanese Studies

Established in 1991, the UCLA Terasaki Center has been a platform for research on Japan. Our distinguished faculty, students, postdoctoral fellows, visiting scholars, and the board of advisors have been contributing to the field of Japanese studies for over 20 years.

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March 22, 2021/ 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM

Envisioning Next Generation Radiation Governance: Archiving, Regulation, Education, Places

This 5-part symposium (March 1, 8, 15, 22 and 29) commemorates the tenth anniversary of the Fukushima disaster, hosted by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) https://www.jsps.go.jp/english/
the UCLA Terasaki Center for Japanese Studies https://www.international.ucla.edu/JAPAN
the University of California Irvine Department of Anthropology https://www.anthropology.uci.edu/
and the Disaster-STS Research Network https://disaster-sts-network.org/

Japan’s ongoing experiences with radiation from Hiroshima and Nagasaki to Fukushima provide powerful examples of the importance of radiation governance. The tenth anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear reactor failure calls for reflection on past and future radiation governance, recognized as a transnational, transdisciplinary, and transgenerational challenge and responsibility to effectively share knowledge and expertise in policy formation and practice.

The Envisioning Next Generation Radiation Governance Symposium, held Mondays in March, 2021, will include an introductory lecture and four panel discussions exploring the archiving, regulation and education needed to support radiation governance in the future, in a wide array of places. One goal is to bring together people involved in different aspects of radiation governance, connecting efforts related to uranium mining and processing, weapons testing, nuclear power generation, food safety, radiation medicine, and so on. Another goal is to foreground diverse approaches to radiation governance stemming from diverse histories, foregrounding initiatives in Japan and the United States. Each panel will be a moderated discussion among differently-situated experts, with time for questions from the audience.

This symposium extends from and supports the on-going work of the Radiation Governance Working Group in the Disaster STS Network https://disaster-sts-network.org/. The Radiation Governance Working Group is building a transnational community-of-practice, body of research, and teaching materials focused on radiation governance. We investigate how those with different kinds of expertise about radiation (nuclear scientists and engineers, policy makers, affected community members, regulators, facility administrators, clinicians, social science researchers, et al) can construct among themselves ways of sharing their knowledge and working together to build effective governance. We also want to help build new capacity for radiation governance through educational programming and inclusive networking.

For more updated information and registration links for each session, please see here.

Sponsor(s): The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) The University of California Irvine Department of Anthropology The Disaster-STS Research Network

SESSIONS

From Bhopal to Fukushima and Next Generation Disaster Governance

The presentation will address Japan's past and future leadership role in radiation research, education, medicine and regulation, in a global frame. In the wake of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster, medical educators in Japan -- working in partnership with the Division of Human Health at the International Atomic Energy Agency -- rallied to consider how medical education needed to change to prepare medical professionals for roles in radiation health disaster prevention and response. They also established new programs at the Universities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to educate an international cadre of radiation health experts prepared to make contributions to radiational health care and governance worldwide. In this presentation, I'll share what I have learned through involvement in the planning and delivery of these new educational programs. A focus on challenges encountered in the immediate aftermath of 3-11 spiraled into wide-ranging deliberation about the need for enhanced collaboration across regions, organizations, disciplines and generations, addressing many different kinds of radiation hazards (from mines, uranium processing facilities, test sites, power plants and medicine), in many different settings. Fukushima'' became a flash point for considering what next generation radiation governance needed to become.

Monday, March 1, 2021
4:00 PM
5:30 PM

Radiation Archives, Past and Future

In this session panelists will describe their radiation archiving practices, their perspectives on radiation knowledge databases and infrastructures needed for the future, and ideas for ways these infrastructures can be built and sustained.

Monday, March 8, 2021
5:00 PM
6:30 PM

Radiation Regulation, Past and Future

Panelists for this session have played leading roles as nuclear and radiation regulators. We ask them to share their perspectives on the strengths and weaknesses in current regulatory frameworks and organizations. We also discuss the kinds of issues that will need regulatory attention in coming years, and the kinds of regulatory capacity that needs to be built.

Monday, March 15, 2021
6:00 PM
7:30 PM

Radiation Education, Past and Future

Panelists for this session have helped build radiation education programs. We will learn what motivates and shaped the formation of these programs, and the challenges they have faced. We also will discuss the kinds of radiation education that are needed for the future.

Monday, March 22, 2021
6:00 PM
7:30 PM

Governing Radiated Places

In this session we focus on particular places facing radiation hazards, addressing their past and current governance practices. We also discuss how to build local level governance capacities through transnational, transdisciplinary disciplinary collaboration.

Monday, March 29, 2021
6:00 PM
7:30 PM