High-Level Radioactive Disposal Policy in Japan: A Sociological Appraisal

Abstract

This study critically appraises the Japanese government’s high-level radioactive disposal policy by drawing on three sociological perspectives: risk society, sociology of scientific knowledge, and social acceptance. The risk society theory emphasizes that the Government of Japan and scientists under its control are pursuing nuclear power policy and repository siting within the conventional paradigm of the first modernity, which no longer aligns with the current reality of nuclear power utilization and its public awareness in Japan. Thus, a reflexive response from the policy side is essential to address the demands of a risk society. The sociology of scientific knowledge supports this view by demonstrating that, while scientists under governmental control attempt to convince the public of the safety of their geological disposal methods and the scientific validity of their siting procedures, these claims are largely a social construction of knowledge riddled with uncertainty and ambiguity about inherent environmental risks. The social acceptance standpoint also reveals a substantial bias in government measures toward ensuring distributive, procedural, and interpersonal fairness. Specifically, it critiques the heavy official reliance on monetary compensation to the host community, limited consideration of the allocation of intergenerational decision-making rights based on the reversibility principle, and the implementing agency’s one-way asymmetrical risk communication for public deliberation.