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Look at Fukushima for example.

Yes, do that. And you'll find that the meltdown and evacuations killed fewer people than did shutting down all of Japan's nuclear plants afterward (PDF: http://ftp.iza.org/dp12687.pdf). In other words, nuclear power comes out ahead even if you assume there will be a Fukushima-class disaster every 10 years, which is absurdly pessimistic.




Any time I hear that “Fukushima wasn’t that bad!” it just makes nuclear that much further out of reach.


I think a lot of people have yet to internalize this fact: Humans aren't Vulcans, and pure rationality does not now, and never will in the future, drive public policy. Humans are emotional beings, and failing to account for and appeal to that will always result in failure.


That's a great reason to predict nuclear power will not be built, but a terrible reason to e.g. vote against it.

We could shut down a technology on a single fatality if we focused hard enough on the victim and their family.




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