Monitoring Impacts and Communicating Health Risks after Fukushima

Event
  • DATE / TIME:
    2014•11•11    10:00 - 13:00
    Location:
    Tokyo

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    Event Information

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    Date/Time: 11 November 2014 (10:00 – 13:00)

    Location: Tokyo, UNU

    Registration: Online Registration

    This public seminar on 11 November 2014 will explore challenges and lessons learned in the process of monitoring health impacts and communicating health risks after the nuclear accident at Fukushima Daiichi. It aims to promote open discussion incorporating perspectives from science, practitioners, civil society and the affected population.

    The event will take the form of a panel discussion followed by interactive discussion with the audience.

    Organizers

    The seminar is organized by UNU-IAS and the UN Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR).

    Background

    The nuclear accident of March 2011 at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has had wide-reaching environmental, social and economic impacts. The health risks posed by the accident have been among the key concerns both in Japan and other countries, and are expected to remain the focus of public attention for many years to come. By their very nature, issues related to radiation are both relatively “unusual” and highly technical for the general public. How to effectively monitor health impacts and communicate associated health risks thus represent key questions that scientists, experts and practitioners are facing in the process of dealing with the legacy of the disaster.

    Programme

    Moderator: Anna Mosneaga (Research Associate, UNU-IAS)

    10:00–10:10 Opening Remarks

    10:10–11:40 Panel Discussion

    • Wolfgang Weiss (Chair, UNSCEAR Fukushima Assessment Report)
    • Stephen Solomon (Group Leader, UNSCEAR Fukushima Assessment Report)
    • Sae Ochi (Director of Internal Medicine, Soma Central Hospital, Fukushima)
    • Joe Moross (SAFECAST)
    • Nanako Shimizu (Associate Professor, Utsunomiya University, Tochigi, Japan)

    11:40–11:50 Coffee Break

    11:50–12:50 Interactive Discussion

    12:50–13:00 Closing Remarks

    Reception

    Following the seminar there will be a lunch reception.

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    UNU-IAS is co-organizing this event as part of the Fukushima Global Communication Programme, a research initiative examining impacts of the Great East Japan Earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident of March 11, 2011 on people and society, the challenges of the recovery process in Fukushima, and related issues of risk and information provision.