NUMO staff and technical experts have been visiting schools and teachers’ groups across Japan to deliver presentations on geological disposal as well as energy and environmental issues with audiovisual tools and interactive demonstration (e.g. experiments using bentonite clay).

Students:
“It’s a very difficult issue but also important for us now and in the future. So I want to and should think more about it.”

“I increased my interest in nuclear power generation to learn the current situation of geological disposal of HLW both from domestic and international perspectives.”

“I knew that the geological disposal project needs a long period of time until its completion but I didn’t know actually it will take place over a period of one hundred years or more from site selection to the closure of geological disposal facilities. I realized that it’s a multi-generational issue.”

“In Japan, we are facing various problems including geological disposal, however so many people are putting them aside as somebody else’s problems. We should raise awareness about our responsibilities.”

“I enjoyed hands-on experiments of bentonite clay as I can learn swelling and sealing characteristics of it.”

Teachers:
“NUMO’s presentations including technical aspects could impress students.”

“Using posters and real scale models is good and easy to understand.”

“The issue of geological disposal of HLW is one of the important topics in the field of energy education; therefore, I want to disseminate information about it through educational events.”

“Public opinion on energy issues and nuclear power is changing compared to that in the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake. Now it’s time to proactively think about and discuss such topics.”

Aiming to increase college students’ knowledge of geological disposal and enhance their understanding of why it is one of the current generation’s important responsibilities, NUMO’s support for college debate classes began in 2012. The class includes presentations on an overview of geological disposal by NUMO’s communication staff, special presentations on radiation and surface storage by technical experts, related facility tours and a debate competition. During 2021, approximately 20 students in Chiba University participated in this class. As of March 2022, NUMO connected with approximately 800 students.

NUMO has been supporting teachers’ groups interested in learning more about energy and environmental education in 10 different locations in Japan. Every March, NUMO holds a workshop of school teachers across the country to exchange opinions and share information.

In collaboration with the above teachers’ groups, NUMO has developed supplementary teaching materials for elementary and junior high schools and a teachers’ instruction material, which explain geological disposal of HLW and relevant information in plain language, and distributed them to the Boards of Education and schools highly interested in energy education.

Videos of classes utilizing these materials are posted on the NUMO’s specially set-up website below and all materials are available for download here.

Further information
https://www.numo.or.jp/eess/ (only in Japanese)