Cargando…

Concerns related to returning home to a “difficult-to-return zone” after a long-term evacuation due to Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Accident: A qualitative study

This study aimed to identify concerns related to returning to the Nagadoro district of Iitate Village, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, in 2023 among its residents as it is designated as a difficult-to-return zone after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident. The following four concerns were...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Hidaka, Tomoo, Kasuga, Hideaki, Kakamu, Takeyasu, Endo, Shota, Masuishi, Yusuke, Fukushima, Tetsuhito
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9423635/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36037200
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0273684
_version_ 1784778062832861184
author Hidaka, Tomoo
Kasuga, Hideaki
Kakamu, Takeyasu
Endo, Shota
Masuishi, Yusuke
Fukushima, Tetsuhito
author_facet Hidaka, Tomoo
Kasuga, Hideaki
Kakamu, Takeyasu
Endo, Shota
Masuishi, Yusuke
Fukushima, Tetsuhito
author_sort Hidaka, Tomoo
collection PubMed
description This study aimed to identify concerns related to returning to the Nagadoro district of Iitate Village, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, in 2023 among its residents as it is designated as a difficult-to-return zone after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident. The following four concerns were extracted from the interviews and qualitative analysis: “Difficulties in restarting/continuing farming,” which represent the difficulties in making a living from agriculture due to the absence of family members and neighbors, and the insufficient radiation decontamination; “Discriminatory treatment of products and residents from villagers,” which suggests the presence of discriminations that residents of Nagadoro district are eccentrics and its agricultural products should not be treated together with those of other districts in the Village due to the recognition that the district is severely polluted by radiation; “Shift of the responsibility of returning home from the country to residents by scapegoating,” which is characterized by the shift of responsibility from the government to the residents, including harsh social criticism of the residents of Nagadoro district for not returning even though the evacuation order has been lifted, when it should have been the government’s responsibility to recover the district to a habitable state; “Loss of options for continued evacuation,” which is the loss or weakening of the position of residents of the Nagadoro district who continue to evacuate, and of administrative compensation, resulting from the legal change that they are no longer “evacuees” after the evacuation order is lifted. The findings of this study will provide a foundation for the support of residents of the Nagadoro district after lifting the evacuation order scheduled for the spring of 2023. The findings may be transferable to the residents of other difficult-to-return zones expected to be lifted after the Nagadoro district and to also a radiation disaster-affected place in the future.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-9423635
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2022
publisher Public Library of Science
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-94236352022-08-30 Concerns related to returning home to a “difficult-to-return zone” after a long-term evacuation due to Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Accident: A qualitative study Hidaka, Tomoo Kasuga, Hideaki Kakamu, Takeyasu Endo, Shota Masuishi, Yusuke Fukushima, Tetsuhito PLoS One Research Article This study aimed to identify concerns related to returning to the Nagadoro district of Iitate Village, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, in 2023 among its residents as it is designated as a difficult-to-return zone after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident. The following four concerns were extracted from the interviews and qualitative analysis: “Difficulties in restarting/continuing farming,” which represent the difficulties in making a living from agriculture due to the absence of family members and neighbors, and the insufficient radiation decontamination; “Discriminatory treatment of products and residents from villagers,” which suggests the presence of discriminations that residents of Nagadoro district are eccentrics and its agricultural products should not be treated together with those of other districts in the Village due to the recognition that the district is severely polluted by radiation; “Shift of the responsibility of returning home from the country to residents by scapegoating,” which is characterized by the shift of responsibility from the government to the residents, including harsh social criticism of the residents of Nagadoro district for not returning even though the evacuation order has been lifted, when it should have been the government’s responsibility to recover the district to a habitable state; “Loss of options for continued evacuation,” which is the loss or weakening of the position of residents of the Nagadoro district who continue to evacuate, and of administrative compensation, resulting from the legal change that they are no longer “evacuees” after the evacuation order is lifted. The findings of this study will provide a foundation for the support of residents of the Nagadoro district after lifting the evacuation order scheduled for the spring of 2023. The findings may be transferable to the residents of other difficult-to-return zones expected to be lifted after the Nagadoro district and to also a radiation disaster-affected place in the future. Public Library of Science 2022-08-29 /pmc/articles/PMC9423635/ /pubmed/36037200 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0273684 Text en © 2022 Hidaka et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Hidaka, Tomoo
Kasuga, Hideaki
Kakamu, Takeyasu
Endo, Shota
Masuishi, Yusuke
Fukushima, Tetsuhito
Concerns related to returning home to a “difficult-to-return zone” after a long-term evacuation due to Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Accident: A qualitative study
title Concerns related to returning home to a “difficult-to-return zone” after a long-term evacuation due to Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Accident: A qualitative study
title_full Concerns related to returning home to a “difficult-to-return zone” after a long-term evacuation due to Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Accident: A qualitative study
title_fullStr Concerns related to returning home to a “difficult-to-return zone” after a long-term evacuation due to Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Accident: A qualitative study
title_full_unstemmed Concerns related to returning home to a “difficult-to-return zone” after a long-term evacuation due to Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Accident: A qualitative study
title_short Concerns related to returning home to a “difficult-to-return zone” after a long-term evacuation due to Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Accident: A qualitative study
title_sort concerns related to returning home to a “difficult-to-return zone” after a long-term evacuation due to fukushima nuclear power plant accident: a qualitative study
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9423635/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36037200
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0273684
work_keys_str_mv AT hidakatomoo concernsrelatedtoreturninghometoadifficulttoreturnzoneafteralongtermevacuationduetofukushimanuclearpowerplantaccidentaqualitativestudy
AT kasugahideaki concernsrelatedtoreturninghometoadifficulttoreturnzoneafteralongtermevacuationduetofukushimanuclearpowerplantaccidentaqualitativestudy
AT kakamutakeyasu concernsrelatedtoreturninghometoadifficulttoreturnzoneafteralongtermevacuationduetofukushimanuclearpowerplantaccidentaqualitativestudy
AT endoshota concernsrelatedtoreturninghometoadifficulttoreturnzoneafteralongtermevacuationduetofukushimanuclearpowerplantaccidentaqualitativestudy
AT masuishiyusuke concernsrelatedtoreturninghometoadifficulttoreturnzoneafteralongtermevacuationduetofukushimanuclearpowerplantaccidentaqualitativestudy
AT fukushimatetsuhito concernsrelatedtoreturninghometoadifficulttoreturnzoneafteralongtermevacuationduetofukushimanuclearpowerplantaccidentaqualitativestudy