Education as the weakest institutional link in Japan's nuclear regulation

Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

1-2016

Abstract

Debates over the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster pointed to a set of institutional and organizational failures in Japan’s nuclear regulation as a primary cause of the disaster. While the Japanese government has implemented reforms to strengthen nuclear regulation, I argue that these reforms have largely left out the education system as a key institution that produces and distributes expertise necessary for nuclear regulation. First, the Japanese education system has traditionally produced only a small number of experts in the fields related to nuclear regulation, aligned top-ranked experts with the pro-nuclear government, and weakened the civil society’s capacity to mobilize counter-experts. Second, the education system has downplayed social-scientific perspectives in energy and environmental education capable of critically examining institutional and organizational dimensions of nuclear regulation. These problems, however, fell outside the purview of post- Fukushima regulatory reforms and, as the result, the education system remains the weakest institutional link in Japan’s nuclear regulation.

Keywords

Expertise, Science and technology, Social Studies, Japanese education

Discipline

Asian Studies | Civic and Community Engagement | Politics and Social Change | Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration

Research Areas

Sociology

Publication

Journal of Social Studies Education Research

Volume

5

First Page

33

Last Page

56

ISSN

1309-9108

Publisher

Journal of Social Studies Education Research

Copyright Owner and License

Author

Additional URL

https://journal.unesa.ac.id/index.php/jsse/article/view/2601

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS