Resilient Design in Nuclear Energy: Critical Lessons from a Cross-Disciplinary Review of the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Accident

Nuclear energy has been gaining momentum recently as one of the solutions to tackle climate change. However, significant environmental and health-risk concerns remain associated with potential accidents. Despite significant preventive efforts, we must acknowledge that accidents may happen and, therefore, develop strategies and technologies for mitigating their consequences. In this paper, we review the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant accident, synthesize the time series and accident progressions across relevant disciplines, including in-plant physics and engineering systems, operators' actions, emergency responses, meteorology, radionuclide release and transport, land contamination, and health impacts. In light of the latest observations and simulation studies, we identify three key factors that exacerbated the consequences of the accident: (1) the failure of Unit 2 containment venting, (2) the insufficient integration of radiation measurements and meteorology data in the evacuation strategy, and (3) the limited risk assessment and emergency preparedness. We propose new research and development directions to improve the resilience of nuclear power plants, including (1) meteorology-informed proactive venting, (2) machine learning-enabled adaptive evacuation zones, and (3) comprehensive risk-informed emergency planning while leveraging the experience from responses to other disasters.