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It does seem sensible to over react but it can be very harmful. If a government overreacts it can cause populations to panic and more people get hurt taking nee

It does seem sensible to over react but it can be very harmful. If a government overreacts it can cause populations to panic and more people get hurt taking needless risks to avoid whatever is being overreacted to (for example driving too fast, travelling through forests to escape during bitter winter nights etc). In the long term overreaction can drive fear of what is, statistically, a very safe way to generate energy. This can cause populations to opt for less safe, more harmful ways to generate power resulting in a greater death toll in the long run. So while you have every right to overreact in the long run you may be part of a larger overreaction harming more people and I'm sure no one wants that.

lutorm 16y ago
Nuclear power may statistically be safe, but that's not much comfort for those who are taking what appears to be quite significant radiation levels right now. Other energy production methods may be less safe, but that's very difficult to determine as the worst case nuclear scenario is so much worse than what can happen with other methods. It makes it a "black swan", in that it's very difficult to determine the actual risk of a severe accident but if it happens it would dominate the statistical signal of "nuclear danger". Textbook black swan case. I feel like those that are saying that nuclear power is safe are kind of in the same situation as those that said that new methods in mathematical finance had made the financial system more safe. They may be right, but that's more a hope than a quantitative statement, as it's pretty much impossible to quantify these extreme events.