Preliminary study on the relation between the coping patterns and mental health of radiation control personnel and nondestructive inspectors engaged in the periodic inspections of nuclear power plants.

OBJECTIVE In order to safely manage nuclear power plants, their workforce should be mentally healthy. This study clarifies the coping strategies of radiation control personnel and nondestructive inspectors engaged in the periodic inspection of nuclear power plants, the effect of the coping strategies on their mental health, as well as any effect based on whether or not they had worked after the nuclear disaster caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami in March 2011. METHODS A questionnaire survey was administered to 133 technicians attending a certification course, and among them, our subjects of analysis were 104 people with work experience in radiation control and/or nondestructive inspection. RESULTS The results indicated that even among workers of the same company who were assigned to similar duties in the periodic inspections of nuclear power plants, the group that had worked at a nuclear plant after the disaster had a tendency to use coping strategies, such as giving up and avoidance-like thinking, which was dissimilar to the group that had not worked at a nuclear plant after the disaster. Further, the former group had higher levels of distress than those who tended to use other coping strategies. In addition, the results suggested that the plan-drafting strategy adopted by the group that had not worked after the disaster did not result in stress reduction. DISCUSSION Based on these results, we propose a stress management program specifically for radiation workers.