• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.1295-1300
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• 2022

There has been increased interest in researching risk perception of radiation to implement successful risk communication, particularly given the recent worldwide nuclear policy movement regarding nuclear energy. This study aimed to investigate characteristics of risk perception among residents living near normally operating nuclear power plants in South Korea by identifying factors associated with risk perception. A survey was conducted with face-to-face interviews for 1200 residents aged 20e84 years by gender- and age-stratified random sampling. Risk perception was associated with trust perception in nuclear safety, but was not highly correlated with benefit perception for utilizing nuclear power. Relatively high risk perception was observed in women, older age groups, and residents not having experience of nuclear-related education or work. This association remained after adjusting for other factors including benefit perception, trust perception, and psychological distress. In addition to these individual characteristics, risk perception was also associated with a residential district's own unique context, indicating that a strategy of risk communication should be developed differently for residents facing nuclear-related circumstances. Given that risk perception can be changed, depending on social values such as safety culture and economic setting, further studies are required to understand the changing characteristics of radiation risk perception.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.161-165
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• 2016

Background: Radiation accidents having occurred in recent containing the accident in Fukushima nuclear power plants of Japan were resulted to the increase in some public concern, anxiety and confusion for radiation or nuclear safety. The public anxiety for radiation is not being decreased though the announcements done in radiation research institutes in Korea. Therefore, this study aims at providing an effective system for radiation publicity to the public members by the clipping analysis for the radiation articles reported in the media. And, the relation between those radiation issues and the radiation perception to the public members is analyzed. Materials and Methods: The radiation articles reported by them in 2013 and 2014 have been collected, and they are then classified with the article characteristic, field and tendency. Classified articles have been reviewed by dividing as two year. The 210 articles have been compared for their tendencies, characteristics and fields by year reported, and their characteristic comparison by reported year are then reviewed. Results and Discussion: Though the frequency that the radiological accidents have occurred in worldwide is far low compared to the accidental frequencies occurred in the general industrial fields, the radiation perception is being still deteriorated because of its special problem, which is defined as exposure, contamination or radioactivity, about radiation. The basic principles for radiation communication were suggested for preventing some unnecessary misunderstanding due to the variation of understanding for radiation issues. Conclusion: It is necessary to perform a variety of strategies for the publicity in improving the radiation perception, to build a relationship with the press or the media and then to consistently interact with them. Radiation communication must be performed by radiation experts or complete charge department, and must be consistently performed and be taken predictable patterns.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.447-460
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• 2014

The results of this study, suggest public communication to promote the use of radiation as follows: first, suitable information for the recipient's perception patterns should be provided, as there is a difference in risk perception and acceptance between the experts and the public. Thus, information on the necessity of nuclear power should be provided to the public, while information based on technical risks is provided by the experts. Second, since the levels of perception, knowledge, and attitudes increased highly for sectors which use radiation after the class, classes should be provided continuously to increase students' perception, knowledge, and attitude, which are all preemptive variables which induce positive behavioral changes. Third, since the seven sectors which use radiation are highly correlated, arguments for the necessity of other sectors should be based on the necessity of the medical sector.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.343-354
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• 2017

This study was designed to identify the knowledge, perception, self-efficacy, and performance on radiation protection among perioperative workers in terms of radiation protection. The factors affecting the performance of radiation protection were identified, and provide basic data for the development of an effective radiation protection education program. The sample was comprised of 166 perioperative workers who agreed to participate in this descriptive study. Data analysis was performed using the t-test, analysis of variance, Pearson's correlation, and multiple regression analyses on the SPSS 23.0 Program. The average time of radiation exposure was 3-4hoursThe radiation protection education experience was 11.4%. The average score of radiation protection knowledge was $8.61{\pm}2.51$; the perception was $4.59{\pm}0.64$; and the performance was $2.99{\pm}0.90$ There was a significant difference in the degree of radiation defense knowledge and performance among the general characteristics (p <001). Knowledge of radiation protection was correlated with the perception. The performance of radiation protection was correlated with the knowledge. The knowledge and perception of radiation protection behaviors should be increased to improve radiation protection performance. Therefore, it is important to promote the performance of radiation protection behaviors by improving the perioperative workers' knowledge of radiation protection through reinforcing radiation-related education.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.51 no.8
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• pp.2034-2041
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• 2019

Public acceptance has become the most critical question for sustainable development of nuclear energy in recent decades. Many researches concentrated on risk and benefit perception, which were deemed as the most influential factors of Public Acceptance of Nuclear Energy (PANE). But few researches focused on psychological factors including regulatory focus. Therefore, this paper aimed to explore the moderating effect of regulatory focus on PANE based on Regulatory Focus Theory in order to find ways to increase/decrease PANE. An Internet-based survey had been carried out in China nationwide. The results indicated that trust in government was positively related to PANE and this relationship was mediated by risk and benefit perception. In addition, the strength of the associations between risk and benefit perception and PANE were moderated by regulatory focus, consisting of prevention focus and promotion focus. Prevention focus strengthened the negative relationship between risk perception and PANE, while promotion focus weakened. Moreover, promotion focus weakened the positive relationship between benefit perception and PANE, but no significant moderating effect of prevention focus was founded on the relationship between benefit perception and PANE. Some policy implications were also proposed on the basis of above-mentioned findings.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.463-470
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• 2022

The purpose of this study was to investigate the perception of Air Force human resources (Civilian defense manpower, Officer, Noncommissioned officer, Solder) for the radiation perception. The subjects were 259 men and women who visited at the Aerospace Medical Center. As for the method, a survey study was conducted using a questionnaire with a total of 14 questions about radiation perception (risk, benefit, management). For statistical analysis, an independent sample T-test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to compare the average of confirm a significant difference among groups. The correlations between variables were tested with Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients. As a result, in the air force human resources, perception of radiation risk of females had a significantly higher awareness than male. Radiation benefits had a significantly higher awareness among married people, military officers, officers, and non-commissioned officers. Radiation control was significantly higher in men, married men, and those with more than 16 years of military experience.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2012

A year has passed since the nuclear power plant accident in Fukushima on March 11, 2011, and a survey for public perception on radiation by Korean people has been made. The methodological design was based on a quantitative survey and a frequency analysis was done. The analysis objects were survey papers (n=2,754pcs) answered by random ordinary citizens chosen from all over the country. The questionnaires, and study tool, were directly distributed and collected. A total of 40 questionnaires using a coefficient of Cronbach's ${\alpha}$ per each area was 'self perception of radiation' (0.620), 'radiation risk' (0.830), 'benefit from radiation' (0.781), 'radiation controlled' (0.685), 'informative source of radiation' (0.831), 'influence degree from Fukushima accident' (0.763), showing rather high score from all areas. As the result of the questionnaires, the knowledge of radiation concept was 69.50 out of 100 points, which shows a rather significant difference from the result of 'know well about radiation' (53.7%) and 'just know about radiation' (37.40%). According to the survey, one of the main reasons why radiation seems risky was that once exposed to radiation, it may not have negative impacts presently but, the next generation could see negative impacts (66.1%). About 41% of our respondents showed a negative position against the government's report on radiation while 39.5% of respondents said that we should stop running nuclear power in light of Fukushima nuclear power plant accident. This study was done for the first time by Korean people's public perception on radiation after the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident. We expect this might have significant contributions to the establishment of the government's policy on radiation.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.65-69
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• 2014

The Korean nuclear industry has been influenced by Fukushima nuclear accident of Japan which occurred two years ago. With information about the accident mainly through mass media such as television or internet, most people are inclined to have a negative perception about nuclear and radiation. They have lack of proper understanding of the fact. Especially, Korean students being future generation have a very limited chance to learn about nuclear and radiation from their regular school curricula. To meet this need, the effectiveness of an extra curricula program is studied using a set of survey on the change of knowledge and perception on radiation, which has been conducted by providing a radiation experiencing program, developed for this study, to high school students in Daejeon area. As a result, a large number of students are found to have enhanced their knowledge on radiation, while some students have shown their positive change of perception on radiation. Based on this, further study may need to improve the survey method and to promote its application for the development of more diverse and systematic radiation experiencing programs. Moreover, better ways for synergy between education and public relations activities on radiation safety may need to be sought.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.205-211
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• 2017

Background: Radiation is used in a variety of areas, but it also poses potential risks. Although radiation is often used with great effectiveness in many applications, people perceive potential risks associated with radiation and feel anxious about the possibility of radiation exposure. Various methods of measuring radiation doses have been developed, but there is no way for the general public to measure their doses with ease. Currently, many people use smartphones, which provide information about the location of an individual phone through network connections. If a smartphone application could be developed for measuring radiation dosage, it would be a very effective way to measure individuals' radiation doses. Thus, we conducted a survey study to assess the social acceptance of such a technology by the general public and their intent to use that technology to measure radiation doses, as well as to investigate whether such an intention is correlated with anxiety and attitudes toward the use of radiation. Materials and Methods: A nationwide online survey was conducted among 355 Koreans who were 20 years old or older. Results and Discussion: Significant differences were found between the genders in attitudes, perceptions of radiation risk, and fears of exposure to radiation. However, a significant difference according to age was observed only in the intent to use a smartphone dose measurement application. Attitudes towards the use of radiation exerted a negative effect on radiation risk perception and exposure anxiety, whereas attitudes towards the use of radiation, risk perception, and anxiety about exposure were found to have a positive impact on the intent to use a smartphone application for dose measurements. Conclusion: A survey-based study was conducted to investigate how the general public perceives radiation and to examine the acceptability of a smartphone application as a personal dose monitoring device. If such an application is developed, it could be used not only to monitor an individual's dose, but also to contribute to radiation safety information infrastructure by mapping radiation in different areas, which could be utilized as a useful basis for radiation research.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.483-491
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• 2017

This study investigates the perception of the general public through analysis of various potential risk factors reflecting nuclear power generation and nuclear power (radiation) and risks. A total of 293 copies of the data were collected from various strata in Busan. As a result, among the potential factors in everyday life, there was a high awareness of the risk to the fire. Next, the perception of risk for radiation terror and nuclear (nuclear) energy was relatively high compared to other risk factors. In the analysis according to age, educational background, and political ideological tendency, the results were contradictory to the necessity, risk and safety of nuclear power generation. The potential risk factors and the perception of nuclear power according to the tendency of political ideology were analyzed to be positive recognition of conservative ideology and negative recognition of progressive group. In other words, the perception of nuclear power was analyzed differently according to the tendency of political ideology. Therefore, it should be decided to reflect the opinions of experts and various opinions of the general public in the setting of nuclear radiation (radiation), it is believed that ordinary people need to take flexible action without having a vague sense of anxiety about various potential risks and nuclear power (radiation) based on objective and scientific grounds.