The future of nuclear safety: vital role of geoscientists?

The article addresses the potential role of geosciences in development of civilian nuclear power plants (NPPs). We firstly highlight the fact that the Fukushima accident of 2011 is different from previous major nuclear accidents at the Three Mile Island and Chernobyl in that the former was triggered externally by a natural disaster, that is, a powerful tectonic earthquake followed by tsunami. Following this, we assess the situation of the NPPs to prepare the occurrence of such a tectonic activity through case study of the Fukushima Daiichi NPP. Finally, some policy recommendations are proposed for a wider and innate integration of geosciences into the governance of civilian NPPs