[johno215]

I completely agree.

Fifteen thousand people died in the Japan earthquakes with not a single death due to the Fukushima meltdown. Yet when one asks the average American about it, all he remembers is how horrible Fukushima was. (It's mind boggling to me.)

It is interesting that so much fear is focused at nuclear power. There must be a combination of the association with nuclear weapons, fear of hard to understand things, and possibility for rare but severe accidents.

[Tichy]

"not a single one died from the Fukushima meltdown"

yet

[johno215]

You are correct that radiation exposure does statically increase the risk for cancer. A handful of emergency workers did receive exposures above the level where the increased risk could be statistically detected compared to regular cancer risk rates.

So it is possible several people may face an earlier death than they would have if Fukoshima did not occur. But when talking deaths we are still short by 3 to 4 orders of magnitudes to the direct deaths from the earthquake.

[1] http://www.slideshare.net/iaea/radiological-briefing-11-0505 [2] http://xkcd.com/radiation/

[Tichy]

As with coal, it is completely silly to compare the number of deaths with the number of deaths from the earthquake.

I take it you wouldn't mind moving into those evacuated areas around Fukushima. Housing is probably really cheap there right now.