It's the example nuclear proponents always cite, but it's a terrible example. Banqiao Dam was a dual-purpose dam, for downstream flood control as well as power,

It's the example nuclear proponents always cite, but it's a terrible example. Banqiao Dam was a dual-purpose dam, for downstream flood control as well as power, and the immediate cause of its failure was that they didn't allow enough water out for fear of downstream flooding. Its flood control role was apparently so important that the government had to rebuild it despite the previous failure and its death toll. Also, I don't think it'd even be possible to build a nuclear power plant with the level of technology at which Banqaio Dam was constructed; it was an early-50s dam made of clay, back when the two nuclear powers were just starting their first experiments with nuclear generation. That's probably a good thing too, given the quality of engineering involved. The idea we have some kind of choice between disasters like the Banqaio Dam one and nuclear power seems like a false one on every level.