I remember TMI, and as mentioned the movies of the time helped to scare a lot of people. TMI, IMO, was a non-incident. It was a failure of people, not of the system.
My father retired from a nuke plant, and throughout my youth we lived 11 miles away from the plant. I never feared the plant or the technology. And even with the waste disposal problems, I believe it is the best power source we have at this time.
Many people (perhaps most?) are poorly educated on nuclear energy. They live in fear of a Hiroshima style nuclear explosion, or a Chernobyl accident. They don't understand that there are differing technologies, and that some plants are safer than others. Many don't know the difference between a reactor building and a cooling tower. They see the steam coming out and think that there is radiation in it. Many still think the plants will "blow up". Many don't know why Chernobyl happened, but they "know" that every nuke plant is another Chernobyl waiting to happen. Unfortunately, it's also an emotional issue for many, meaning that no amount of education will ever sway them from their fears. And many want me to add more punctuation to this paragraph so that it reads better.
Are the plants ugly? Perhaps some are. The one in our area looks no different than any other industrial complex.
