From left, Yuno Mori, Yuri Imaizumi and Yume Amemiya, who carried out a survey about nuclear power among high school students in Fukui Prefecture, where many of Japan's nuclear power plants are concentrated, are seen here at Fukuiminami High School in Fukui on Dec. 9, 2021. (Mainichi/Riki Iwama)
FUKUI -- A survey of about 1,800 high school students carried out by their peers in this central Japan city brought to the surface mixed feelings young people have about the high number of nuclear power facilities that occupy the prefecture, including the Tsuruga, Mihama, Oi and Takahama plants.
Fukuiminami High School students Yume Amemiya, 18, Yuri Imaizumi, 17, and Yuno Mori, 15, who conducted the survey in October 2021, are all members of the Genshiryoku Tankyu (nuclear power investigation) Group at their school. They gathered responses from 1,807 students from various schools, including 34 prefectural, public and private schools, schools for the hearing impaired, and free schools. Of the respondents, 79.9% lived in the prefecture's northern region, while 17.4% lived in the southern region, where most of the nuclear power plants are concentrated, and 2.7% were from outside the prefecture.
The survey results showed that 60.6% of respondents were conscious on a regular basis of the presence of nuclear power plants and the problems surrounding them. Asked what prompted them to become aware of the related issues, 28.3% said "school classes," while 25.4% said "the Great East Japan Earthquake," which was followed by the tsunami and nuclear disaster, and 16% said "the news."
To a question asking how much they knew about nuclear power plants, 5.1% (or 22.3% if limited just to southern Fukui Prefecture), said that someone close to them worked at a job related to nuclear power, 4.7% (or 16.2% in southern Fukui Prefecture) said that there was a nuclear power plant in their everyday living zone. Combined, this comes out to roughly 10% of all respondents. The three students who conducted the survey concluded that this was a very unique characteristic of Fukui Prefecture.
Asked about what kind of image or impression they have of nuclear power (with multiple answers permitted), 80.2% of respondents said "dangerous" (northern Fukui 82.3%, southern Fukui 69.4%, outside Fukui 87.8%). Meanwhile, 33.5% (northern Fukui 32.8%, southern Fukui 38.5%, outside Fukui 22.4%) said nuclear power was "necessary," exceeding the 8.3% (northern Fukui 9.1%, southern Fukui 3.5%, outside Fukui 14.3%) who said nuclear power was "unnecessary."
In response to the survey results, Mori said, "I was surprised that the majority of people said that they had an image of nuclear power as being 'dangerous' and yet many still answered that it was 'necessary.' Even among high school students, there are those who feel: 'It's dangerous, but it's something that can't be cut out of our lives right away.'"
In a question on what nuclear-related topics the respondents had learned about in school (with multiple answers permitted), 64.9% said "the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station accident." A total of 61.4% said they learned about the "mechanism of nuclear reactors," 58% said they learned about the "demerits of nuclear power," and 54.1% said they learned about the "merits of nuclear power." Meanwhile, it became evident that there were few people who said that they had learned about "high-level radioactive waste," which is produced in the process of generating electricity and reprocessing.
The survey also made room for respondents to provide comments freely. In addition to remarks such as, "I think nuclear power plants are scary, but I'm also scared of the fact that I don't really know what's scary about them," and, "I wish textbooks would teach us more about the merits and demerits (of nuclear power)," there were comments that were unique to a prefecture hosting nuclear power plants, such as, "There is a tendency for people to avoid debate on it even though it's so close to home."
Amemiya said, "I do wish that we were taught more about radioactive waste in schools, but maybe it's a subject that's hard to handle from a neutral position, and that's probably a reason why it's commonly not taught in schools."
The survey results were made into a booklet, of which 100 copies were printed. They will be distributed to high schools that cooperated with the survey as resources. The results of the survey were also released on the Fukuiminami High School website.
Imaizumi, who was in charge of getting the booklets printed, said, "We may all be high school students, but we have diverse views and sensibilities. I want to continue learning more about nuclear power plants."
(Japanese original by Riki Iwama and Chika Yokomi, Fukui Bureau)
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