I agree (sort of) with the premise of this article but I'm not sure I believe all of its facts. Specifically, the analysis of the negative effects of each resp

I agree (sort of) with the premise of this article but I'm not sure I believe all of its facts. Specifically, the analysis of the negative effects of each respective meltdown, Chernobyl and Fukushima. I personally believe there's reason to distrust any study on Chernobyl because of the blatant cover-up mentioned and the interference of the Soviet government, so it doesn't really work well as a citation to convince skeptics of the safety of nuclear energy. Likewise, I don't know that we've seen the full effects of Fukushima yet. Here is one article that shows some of the milder social effects on residents: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/03/10/national/life-indoors-exacts-toll-on-koriyama-children/#.VgGiGpcvaDl http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/03/10/national/life-in... "Some of the smallest children in Koriyama, a short drive from the ruined Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, barely know what it’s like to play outside — fear of radiation has kept them indoors for much of their short lives." I lived at one point in time relatively near the Fukushima plant (100 km away) at about 2 months after the disaster and I did follow pretty closely at that time the pattern of fallout, but since returning to the USA it is not something I have followed as closely as I should. For me, the hardest part is seeing the impact on people I met and their friends and families. But I also saw many people doing well even in the hardship. I did live somewhere (a university campus) with continual radiation level monitoring, with levels somewhere below 0.12 uSv/hour or maybe twice the background radiation of Rome, and I also took Iodine pills in the immediate aftermath of the disaster. For that reason, maybe somewhat selfishly, and because of all of the obvious reasons, I do believe that nuclear energy is essential. Side note: Fukushima Prefecture has the University of Aizu, which is the only public, graduate-level university in Japan dedicated to computer science and engineering.