Origin of the Safety Myth: Native Ethnography of Japanese Nuclear Professionals

Before the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011, most Japanese professionals in the field believed that Japan’s nuclear power plants were the safest worldwide and that a serious accident would never happen. Although criticism arose about the safety myth after the accident, the mechanism by which many professionals in the nuclear field, including this author, adopted such a mindset has not been fully explained. The analysis included 39 publicly available testimonies by professionals involved in the Fukushima accident and interview data of 20 anonymous professionals in the field. The results revealed that the strong desire for certainty (infallibility) in nuclear safety by both the public and nuclear industry professionals had created the safety myth. When the current system came close to being threatened, the system justification was activated, and this myth was reinforced.