Let me make clear to begin with so there is no
misunderstanding: I am not a great advocate of nuclear power nor am I advocating it here. But to be objective about this, you are much more likely to die from coal fired plants than nuclear ones. See http://www.the9billion.com/2011/03/24/death-rate-from-n
uclear-power-vs-coal/ And this does not include the effects of climate change yet.

So as dangerous as nuclear power plants can be and the possible consequences catastrophic, this may be a case of auto versus airplane risk: you are much more likely to die from a car crash statistically than from an airplane crash, but the latter is more dramatic and frightening because it is a)sudden b)you have no
control c)many die all at once. In any case, I think
the question I'm asking therefore is how much of the anti-nuclear sentiment in Japan now is emotional, how much was there before because of both Hiroshima and Chernobyl, and how much very rational fear in the Japanese context after Fukushima?

Best regards,
Ellis