  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.
