Any discussion of Fukushima must include the incredibly destructive earthquake and tsunami that precipitated it. 20,000 people died and hundreds of thousands we

Any discussion of Fukushima must include the incredibly destructive earthquake and tsunami that precipitated it. 20,000 people died and hundreds of thousands were displaced. The economic consequences, from Wikipedia: Early estimates placed insured losses from the earthquake alone at US$14.5 to $34.6 billion. The Bank of Japan offered ¥15 trillion (US$183 billion) to the banking system on 14 March 2011 in an effort to normalize market conditions. The World Bank's estimated economic cost was US$235 billion, making it the costliest natural disaster in history. According to a 2020 study, "the earthquake and its aftermaths resulted in a 0.47 percentage point decline in Japan’s real GDP growth in the year following the disaster." Yes, we can and should make nuclear power safer - but let's not overstate the risk. The reactor failures were a tiny part of an enormous disaster, and not by any means the worst part of it.