"What does Germany think about radiation? Findings 2022" - Project 3621S72210

Abstract

A central component of radiation protection is the education of the population about the effects and risks of radiation and about the correct protective behaviour in this respect. In order to gather information on society’s handling of selected radiation topics as a basis for this educational task, the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) has for many years commissioned socio-scientific studies on the societal and individual handling of selected radiation topics as well as on risk and information perception – e.g. on the topics of mobile communication, power grid expansion, UV protection, communication of scientific uncertainties in the area of electromagnetic fields, knowledge of general practitioners regarding electromagnetic fields, reflected way of dealing with risks in radiation protection. The objective of this research project is to detect the anchoring in society of radiation and radiation protection, the perceptions, knowledge and information needs of the population in Germany and to derive perspective recommendations for action and information. The reliability of the results on how the population deals with radiation and radiation protection is ensured by means of a method triangulation from a qualitative and a Germany-wide representative quantitative survey. The focus is on the following questions: • What are the views and opinions existing in Germany on the subject of radiation and radiation protection? • What do respondents know about selected radiation protection topics? • In which areas have the respondents already dealt with protective measures and which specific protective measures have already been taken? • How well do citizens feel informed and protected by government radiation protection measures and what are their information needs? The survey also intends to provide insights into the environment in which BfS operates with its scientific work as well as its information and communication measures. The results should thus provide impulses for the design of BfS's science and risk communication as well as for the elaboration of radiation protection concepts. The present study is part of a series of surveys entitled "What does Germany think about radiation?". This second survey builds on the first survey in 2019.