Japan Geoscience Union Meeting 2015

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Oral

Symbol S (Solid Earth Sciences) » S-CG Complex & General

[S-CG56] Nuclear Power Plants in Japan and Earth Science: Given the limits of earthquake and volcano science

Wed. May 27, 2015 9:00 AM - 10:45 AM 103 (1F)

Convener:*Hitoshi Kawakatsu(Earthquake Research Institute, University of Tokyo), Satoshi Kaneshima(Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Kyushu University), Daisuke Suetsugu(Institute of Research on Earth Evolution, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology), Manabu Hashimoto(Disaster Prevention Research Institute, Kyoto University), Chair:Hitoshi Kawakatsu(Earthquake Research Institute, University of Tokyo), Daisuke Suetsugu(Institute of Research on Earth Evolution, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology)

10:10 AM - 10:40 AM

★ [SCG56-05] The role by earth scientists in problems about nuclear power plants

*Yasuo IZUTANI1 (1.Shinshu University)

One of the causes of the severe accidents of Fukushima nuclear power plants during the Great Tohoku Earthquake of 2011 is that the tsunami hight to design the nuclear power plants was fixed by earth scientists and engineers in spite of their knowledge on tsunami was very limited. The same problem exists in how to fix the ground motion level to ensure safety of nuclear power plants, because knowledge on ground motions for future earthquakes is very limited. In the circumstances, the ground motion level must be fixed by taking into account not only the limited scientific knowledge but also social factors, such as, risk of human life and environment, and so on. The role by earth scientists is not to fix the ground motion level but to provide the society with scientific knowledge and to empower the society so that the society may fix it through discussions among people with various opinions.