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I blame Homer. The Simpsons painted a horrific picture of nuclear safety - greedy billionaire owner, incompetent safety inspector, three eyed fish, glowing gre

• acidburnNSA 7y ago
  It's more than Homer. Nuclear and radiation being scary is absolutely pervasive in pop culture, from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to MacGyver to Spiderman to HBO miniseries. Part of the problem is that nuclear PR wing is run by utility companies that have a bunch of fossil assets that they don't want to make look bad by pointing out what's good about nuclear (no air pollution, no carbon emissions)
• hakfoo 7y ago
  The fun thing about that series is how shifting expectations have impacted our perception of Homer. Here's a barely-graduated-fron-high schooler, with no special training and skills, yet he enjoys a secure, unionized job, home ownership, and is a single-income earner for a family of five plus supporting a parent in a care home. In 1988 he was a cautionary tale for our kids. In 2020 he's an unattainable aspiration for our kids' kids. I wonder if there's room for a "this isn't Homer's time, and it's not Homer's plant" messaging pivot.
• hristov 7y ago
  The simpsons were generous. Despite all the high jinks that reactor has not yet made springfield an unlivable ghost town, yet that has already happened to several towns around nuclear reactors. And the simpsons were funny because they reflected what happened in the real world. People knew about Three Mile Island and Chernobyl when the simpsons were on.