Continues monitoring of environmental radioactivity in the area polluted by the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Accident 2011 and disclosure of the data to public through the Internet

Abstract

The Internet has become a powerful communication media. In authors’ previous paper, it has been shown that the Internet can be a good risk communication tool in panic situations caused by natural disasters. The present paper deals with the role of the media in the recovering process from the disaster. It is five years since the earthquake of the magnitude 9.0 occurred at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean near the coast of Northern Japan. There occurred nuclear accidents triggered by the tsunami at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plants (FNPP). They experienced wide range of radioactive contaminations. Many people had to evacuate from the polluted lands. Even today, about 100,000 people in the Fukushima Prefecture cannot come back to their home lands. The National Institute of Technology, Fukushima College (NITFC) is located at 40km south of the FNPP. About 100 students (10% of total students) had their home lands in the risky 30km region from the FNPP. Some staffs and students of NITFC have been monitoring the radioactivity of their environment since just after the accident and they continued to open their data to public through the Internet. This paper discusses influence of giving different source data to the public beside the official governmental data regarding the radioactivity of the environment.