Thesis supervisors
: Valérie November and Paul Jobin
This thesis aims to revisit the concept of reconstruction after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in March 2011
. By addressing the reconstruction policy launched by the Japanese authorities following this disaster, despite the health risk posed by low doses of radiation persisting in the environment, it studies the socio-cultural consequences of this policy on the people affected, who leave, stay, or return to the contaminated areas. What kind of reconstruction is possible after this nuclear disaster? What kind of reconstruction is possible in contaminated areas for populations affected by this disaster and faced with long-term health and environmental risks?
In order to answer these questions, this thesis first analyzes the Fukushima disaster in three phases—before, during, and after the event—and the management of this disaster on two levels—collective and individual. It also examines the socio-technical controversies surrounding the risk posed by low doses of radiation—a risk that extends over a wide area and a long period of time—which helps to grasp the complexity of this "post-accident" situation in a nuclearized Japanese society.
Secondly, this thesis takes a comparative look at the Minamata disaster caused by mercury contamination since the 1930s. By analyzing these two case studies in their various dimensions—uncertainty, risk, and the occurrence of the disaster—it highlights the process of reconstruction, even rebirth, of a Japanese society affected, on several occasions, by techno-industrial disasters, a mirror effect of the country's development and modernization.
Thesis defense on Wednesday, November 4, 2020
Keywords
: Fukushima, reconstruction, radioactivity, risk, disaster
Year of enrollment
: 2014
Doctoral school
: VTT – City, Transportation, and Territories
Members of the jury
Claudine Burton-Jeangros, professor, University of Geneva (Rapporteur)
Sophie Houdart, Research Director, CNRS LESC (Rapporteur)
Paul Jobin, Associate Research Fellow, Academia Sinica (Thesis Supervisor)
Valérie November, Research Director, CNRS (Thesis Director)
Philippe Pelletier, Professor, University of Lyon 2 (Examiner)
Sandrine Revet, Director of Research, CERI, Sciences Po (Examiner)
Sezin Topçu, Research Fellow, CNRS CEMS-EHESS (Examiner)