Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Nuclear accidents call for transdisciplinary nuclear energy research

  • Note and Comment
  • Published:
Sustainability Science Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The consequences of nuclear accidents touch many aspects of society, and thus lead to challenges for multiple actors across spatial and temporal scales. Here, we highlight unused potential of communication, collaboration and knowledge co-production for response after nuclear accidents. This potential can be harnessed by a transdisciplinary research approach including all relevant actors on a regional scale such as nuclear industry, government officials, civil society and scientific researchers. Transdisciplinary research approaches on regional scale could enhance implementation of proper mid- and long-term remediation measures and build capacity to cope up with the impacts after nuclear accidents.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

References

  • Beach H (1990) Coping with the Chernobyl disaster: a comparison of social effects in two reindeer-herding areas. Rangifers 3(Special Issue):25–34

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brandt P, Ernst A, Gralla F, Luederitz C, Lang DJ, Newig J, Reinert F, Abson DJ, von Wehrden H (2013) A review of transdisciplinary research in sustainability science. Ecol Econ 92:1–15

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brooks A (2012) Radiating knowledge: the public anthropology of nuclear energy. Am Anthropol 114(1):137–140

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brumfiel G (2013) Fukushima: fallout of fear. Nature 493(7432):290–293

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Figueroa PM (2013) Risk communication surrounding the Fukushima nuclear disaster: an anthropological approach. Asia Eur J 11(1):53–64

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fischbach E, Jenkins J (2012) Radiation detection: there’s an app for that. Bull At Sci 68(2):63–69

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Friedman SM (2011) Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima: an analysis of traditional and new media coverage of nuclear accidents and radiation. Bull At Sci 67(5):55–65

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Funabashi Y, Kitazawa K (2012) Fukushima in review: a complex disaster, a disastrous response. Bull At Sci 68(2):9–21

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gibbons M (1999) Science’s new social contract with society. Nature 402:81–84

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gralla F, Abson DJ, Møller AP, Lang DJ, von Wehrden H (2014) The impact of nuclear accidents on provisioning ecosystem services. Ecol Ind 41:1–14

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hindmarsh RA (ed) (2013) Nuclear disaster at Fukushima Daiichi. Social, political and environmental issues, 1st edn. Routledge studies in science, technology and society, v. 21. Routledge, New York

  • Jahn T, Bergmann M, Keil F (2012) Transdisciplinarity: between mainstreaming and marginalization. Ecol Econ 79:1–10

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kumar S, Havey T (2013) Before and after disaster strikes: a relief supply chain decision support framework. Int J Prod Econ 145(2):613–629

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lang DJ, Wiek A, Bergmann M, Stauffacher M, Martens P, Moll P, Swilling M, Thomas CJ (2012) Transdisciplinary research in sustainability science: practice, principles, and challenges. Sustain Sci 7(S1):25–43

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lelieveld J, Kunkel D, Lawrence MG (2012) Global risk of radioactive fallout after major nuclear reactor accidents. Atmos Chem Phys 12(9):4245–4258

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • MHLW—Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (2013) New standard limits for radionuclides in food. (provisional translation, original in Japanese). http://www.mhlw.go.jp/english/topics/2011eq/dl/new_standard.pdf. Accessed 10 Jun 2014

  • Møller AP, Mousseau TA (2013) Investigating the effects of low-dose radiation from Chernobyl to Fukushima: history repeats itself. Asian Perspect 37(4):551–565

    Google Scholar 

  • Morita A, Block A, Kimura S (2013) The formation of a civic radiation monitoring map during the Fukushima disaster. In: Hindmarsh RA (ed) Nuclear disaster at Fukushima Daiichi. Social, political and environmental issues, 1st edn. Routledge, New York, p 78–96

  • NDMA—National Disaster Management Authority (2009) National disaster management guidelines. National Disaster Management Authority, Govt. of India, New Delhi

  • Peplow M (2011) Chernobyl’s legacy. Nature 471(7340):562–565

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Perko T (2013) Radiation risk perception: a discrepancy between the experts and the general population. J Environ Radioact 133:86–91

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pohl C, Rist S, Zimmermann A, Fry P, Gurung GS, Schneider F, Speranza CI, Kiteme B, Boillat S, Serrano E, Hadorn GH, Wiesmann U (2010) Researchers’ roles in knowledge co-production: experience from sustainability research in Kenya, Switzerland, Bolivia and Nepal. Sci Pub Policy 37(4):267–281

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ProClim—Forum for climate and global change (1997) Research on sustainability and global change—visions in science policy by Swiss Researchers

  • Ramana MV (2011) Nuclear power and the public. Bull At Sci 67(4):43–51

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Silvertown J (2009) A new dawn for citizen science. Trends Ecol Evol 24(9):467–471

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Skanavis C, Koumouris GA, Petreniti V (2005) Public participation mechanisms in environmental disasters. Environ Manage 35(6):821–837

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sovacool BK (2011) Questioning the safety and reliability of nuclear power. An assessment of nuclear incidents and accidents. GAIA 20(2):95–103 (9)

    Google Scholar 

  • Sovacool BK (2014) What are we doing here? Analyzing fifteen years of energy scholarship and proposing a social science research agenda. Energy Res Soc Sci 1:1–29

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spreng D (2014) Transdisciplinary energy research—reflecting the context. Energy Res Soc Sci (in press)

  • Suzuki I, Kaneko Y (2013) Japan’s disaster governance: how was the 3.11 crisis managed?. Springer, USA

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Tagami K, Uchida S (2011) Can we remove iodine-131 from tap water in Japan by boiling?—experimental testing in response to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident. Chemosphere 84(9):1282–1284

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • UNISDR—United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (2004) Living with risk. A global review of disaster reduction initiatives, 2004 version. United Nations, New York

  • von Wehrden H, Fischer J, Brandt P, Wagner V, Kümmerer K, Kuemmerle T, Nagel A, Olsson O, Hostert P (2012) The ecological consequences of nuclear accidents. Conserv Lett 5:1–89

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wikimedia Commons: license under creative commons; http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Towns_evacuated_around_Fukushima_on_April_11th,_2011.png

  • Yanev Y (2013) The challenge of managing knowledge in nuclear energy development. Energy Strat Rev 1(4):282–285

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yoshida N, Kanda J (2012) Tracking the Fukushima radionuclides. Science 336(6085):1115–1116

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

FG was funded by a scholarship financed by Leuphana University.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre of Methods, Leuphana University Lueneburg, Scharnhorststr. 1, 21335, Lueneburg, Germany

    Fabienne Gralla, Ulli Vilsmaier & Henrik von Wehrden

  2. FuturES Research Center, Leuphana University Lueneburg, Scharnhorststr. 1, 21335, Lueneburg, Germany

    David J. Abson

  3. Laboratoire d’Ecologie, Systématique et Evolution, CNRS UMR 8079, Université Paris-Sud, Bâtiment 362, 91405, Orsay Cedex, France

    Anders P. Møller

  4. Institute of Transdisciplinarity and Ethics, Faculty of Sustainability, Leuphana University Lueneburg, Scharnhorststr. 1, 21335, Lueneburg, Germany

    Fabienne Gralla, Daniel J. Lang & Ulli Vilsmaier

  5. School of Business and Social Sciences, AU-Herning, Aarhus University, Århus, Denmark

    Benjamin K. Sovacool

  6. Faculty of Sustainability, Institute of Ecology, Leuphana University Lueneburg, Scharnhorststr. 1, 21335, Lueneburg, Germany

    Henrik von Wehrden

Authors
  1. Fabienne Gralla
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. David J. Abson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Anders P. Møller
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Daniel J. Lang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Ulli Vilsmaier
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Benjamin K. Sovacool
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Henrik von Wehrden
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fabienne Gralla.

Additional information

Handled by Fabio Orecchini, University of Rome "La Sapienza", Italy.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Gralla, F., Abson, D.J., Møller, A.P. et al. Nuclear accidents call for transdisciplinary nuclear energy research. Sustain Sci 10, 179–183 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-014-0260-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-014-0260-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation