Public education in nuclear science at the Kyushu Museum of Energy in Japan

Abstract

The Kyushu Museum of Energy, funded by the Kyushu Electric Power Company, Inc., was opened in September 1982. The planning and design were done by Dentsu, Inc., and the actual construction was shared among several construction and manufacturing companies. I was retained as the principal scientific advisor for the museum, both prior to its construction, throughhout the planning of the exhibits, and afterwards when it was opened to the public. This is an educational museum, which shows how people have developed and depended on energy and energy sources since the discovery of fire in prehistory. There are four major sections, devoted to fire itself, electricity, nuclear power by fission, and nuclear power by fusion. In addition, the museum will track visitors through the exhibits, in terms of “The History of Energy” as a beginning point for their tour, lead them through “Present Energy Needs and Uses”, and thence to “Future Energy Developments and Needs”. The museum is of a “hands-on” active display type design, with many large and attractive display panels, working models, pleasant mixes of sound, light, and images, and educational levels that encompass general public interest to semitechnical explanations that will satisfy the undergraduate with a technical, background. Visitors can not only operate the models themselves, but join in a variety of games based on energy consumption, usage, and needs. It is very much a participatory museum, and visitors are exposed to the many facets of day-to-day energy generation and consumption, as well as the estimated needs for the future, and possible ways to supply these needs. To date, there have been well over 200,000 visitors recorded. *** DIRECT SUPPORT *** A0653119 00004