Societal consequences of radioactive releases in March 2011 in Japan and implications for the resilience concept

The nuclear accident in Japan in March 2011 was an extreme event and studies of its consequences can offer new insights into long-term effects on society. This study of societal consequences in November 2012 is a follow-up of a previous study of the most important consequences a year earlier. At twenty months after the accident, the radioactive contamination and ensuing need for decontamination still dominates since reconstruction and return of evacuees cannot begin until an area has been decontaminated. Health concerns remain, although extensive screening is under way, and the results so far indicate that the risks for negative effects are low. The costs to society of these and other consequences of the nuclear accident are huge and will continue to grow. The future consequences related to the radioactive substances released in 2011 will develop as a function of the relatively long half-life of cesium-137 (ca. 30 years) and the perception of the situation guiding human and organisational behaviour. Temporal and spatial scales are noticeable in how the consequences have developed. A systems perspective also appears to be valid. These observations are used to explore the definition of resilience by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. This showed that the definition can apply to an extreme disaster, that it constructs resilience as a graded property and that it encompasses both proactive and reactive resilience. However, the underpinning abilities to resist, absorb, accommodate and recover as well as their internal relations need further exploration and discussion. The discussion here shows that examining resilience in relation to a real event can be fruitful for understanding the concept and its definition.