this post was submitted on 07 Feb 2024
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[–] [email protected] 47 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Similar to the theory that The Simpsons made a generation not trust nuclear power.

[–] [email protected] 61 points 9 months ago (3 children)

I think 3 mile Island and Chernobyl and Fukushima and Sosnovy Bor and Ibaraki and Forsmark were probably more influential in terrifying the general public about nuclear power.

[–] [email protected] 50 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (3 children)

Yeah it's also people using those incidents for fear mongering. Especially when coal and oil have killed way more people than every nuclear incident combined, including nuclear weapons.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 9 months ago (2 children)

The psychological impact of a meltdown versus slow poisoning is important. Similar to how fire bombings were more deadly and destructive than the nuclear bombs were, but the nukes have a bigger impact on us mentally

[–] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago

Familiarity also. People are more afraid of dying in a very rare plane crash than dying in a car accident. Same with terrorism vs regular crime.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Yeah we firebomed Tokyo to cinders. Hardly any of the original buildings remain and the ones that did are all landmarks.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I've heard people say shit like "after Chernobyl, two fishermen were instantly vaporized and only boots left on the bank!" Like, no, that never happened since it wasn't an atomic bomb.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago

The closest to that were the people on the bridge who were looking at the radiation that died a couple of days after.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Chernobyl showed that an accident could make an entire region unlivable indefinitely, Three Mile Island showed that an accident could happen in the US too

Nuclear accidents became real. People could no longer trust that all the safeguards and safety culture could prevent it. And the impact of how serious an accident could get outweighs the rarity.

Or a more objective and dispassionate way to look at it, is the seriousness of any potential accidents caused enough process safeguard to make nuclear power too expensive to be worthwhile

[–] [email protected] 10 points 9 months ago (1 children)

The cost of building them and waste storage issues were a major factor

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago

Apparent waste storage issues... If people really knew about all the pollution from fossil fuels, they'd clamor for nuclear power.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

It's weird that the first one you listed didn't have any injuries or deaths. I think you might be a victim of that fear mongering, friend

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago

That was Three Mile Island and Chernobyl that did that. The Simpsons merely rode a wave that had already crested.