Engineering thinking in emergency situations: A new nuclear safety concept

Self Cite

A transdisciplinary concept, resilience has emerged from monodisciplinary approaches and finds its foundations in various domains such as materials science, ecology, psychology, sociology, ethology, medicine, etc. Although the concept has been a work in progress in the scientific community for several decades, it was only adopted by the safety studies community in the 2000s. The Fukushima Daiichi accident has accelerated its popularity and led to an abundance of theoretical and methodological references, ideas and concepts, processes and approaches that are more-or-less operational.

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Accident: Entering into Resilience Faced with an Extreme Situation

Guarnieri¹

2017

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“…It seems more relevant to think of Fukushima as a chain reaction, which continues to cause regular crises [49]. Documentaries take particular note of this 'never-ending accident', which is viewed as an unfolding drama.…”

Section: The Story Of An Accident That Has No Endmentioning

confidence: 99%

What Cultural Objects Say About Nuclear Accidents and Their Way of Depicting a Controversial Industry

Portelli¹

2017

Nuclear accidents have prompted the creation of numerous cultural objects such as novels, films, cartoons, or posters. Here we show what these objects can teach us about the social representations of nuclear power. The object is both a product and a representation. It can influence attitudes and partially contributes to the cognitive context of controversy about atomic power. Consequently, it leads to diverse practices defined by the interests and goals of the groups that own it. French documentaries on Fukushima Daiichi constitute a coherent corpus that makes it possible to identify both ruptures and continuity in the story that is told. These films borrow from the symbols, myths, and analogies provoked by Chernobyl to evoke Fukushima. They also show that the accident ends the myth of 'Soviet neglect' and creates a form of social resilience that has changed the way the Japanese population is seen in France.

“…In extreme conditions, the risk is that the factors that determine the 'entry into resilience' are ignored [43].…”

Section: From Decision Making To Taking Action In Extreme Situationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Decision-Making in Extreme Situations Following the Fukushima Daiichi Accident

Travadel

2017

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The Fukushima Daiichi accident raises questions about current decision-making models. Faced with an overwhelming situation, which threatened both their own lives and that of the entire population, the plant's operators were obliged to take action, despite the lack of resources. In these conditions, decision making cannot be reduced to an optimization exercise based on a range of possibilities, or the application of planned operational responses to an emergency situation. The inevitable catastrophe, the social pressure it generates, the moral dilemmas it creates and the psychological drivers for action are characteristic of an extreme situation. The action plan must therefore be reinvented and individuals mobilised to these ends. It is therefore in a broader context of 'action' that decision making takes shape, and finds its logical foundations, meaning and temporality. Understanding decision making in extreme situations first requires a grasp of the development of a specific value system (that is mediated by the physical experience of the situation) in which the individual and social representations play a central role.