We plan our safety measures under economic, personnel and time constraints. The extent of how far we take these measures depends on our acknowledgement of risk of whether we “stop because it is risky” or we “cannot stop because of its benefits despite its risks”. This chapter discusses our risk recognition and concerns about mass media that strongly affect our risk recognition. It also overviews differences in risk evaluation about natural disasters and social disasters.

Uranium waste, which is one of the wastes containing radioactive substances of natural origin, is generated in association with the use of nuclear power generation. While there have been long discussions about handling and disposal of the uranium wastes for last 50 years in Japan, its clear vision including a specific disposal site has not yet been received. For improving this situation, the authors perceived that it is necessary to refocus this issue from the view of humanities and social sciences, rather than that of natural science and engineering and have had in-depth discussions in a specialized study group established in the Japan Health Physics Society. This commentary provides an overview of the two-year discussions in that group.

Inevitably generated. In particular, the long-term safe disposal of high-level radioactive waste (HLW), which contains radionuclides with high radioactivity levels and long half-lives, has long been a concern in countries that use nuclear power. These countries plan to dispose of HLW deep underground (i.e., geological disposal) so that it would not affect human health and the environment in the distant future. However, they face difficulties in reaching a social consensus on the selection of burial disposal sites and the method of ensuring the safety of disposal facilities. It would take a long time before important to consider the issue from humanity and social science perspectives, in addition to explanations from a science and engineering perspective as has been done so far and have exchanged information and opinions at the "Special Study Group on Considerations from a Humanities and Social Science Perspective on the Management and Disposal of Radioactive Waste," which was established by the Japan Health Physics Society in 2022. This paper reports on the knowledge and ideas shared and agreed upon through these discussions over approximately two years.