Geotechnical application and education initiatives to recovery of nuclear power plant accident

By off the Pacific coast of Tohoku earthquake in Japan on March, 2011, the subsequent accident of nuclear power plants in Fukushima has been problematic. Nuclear reactors have been damaged, and surrounding environment has been contaminated by radioactivity. The severe accident must be solved along with four tasks: demolition of damaged facilities, remediation of the site, waste management and preventing the spreading of contamination. So far, geotechnical engineering has technically contributed to radioactive waste disposal and general/industrial waste disposal. Sufficient results related to controlling groundwater and ground stabilization have been achieved in general construction projects. Both techniques and experiences of geotechnical engineering would be applicable to the tasks. The Japanese Geotechnical Society (JGS) has started a project that is being supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). The project promotes both the technical development and the education of geotechnical engineering for decommissioning of nuclear power plants. This paper introduces contents of the JGS project. Geotechnical application and education initiatives to support the long term solution of nuclear power plant accident are discussed.