Nuclear power is only as safe as the people who are involved in it. In this case, the Fukushima power plant wasn't funded like it should have been because people weren't interested in nuclear power. Turns out that's both extremely dangerous and hard to control.

Also, what do you mean by paranoia and unnecessary evacuations? Nobody could even guess what was going to happen. When will explosions happen? How many? What direction will the wind blow? The power plant was out of control. The US government didn't assist with evacuations until AFTER the first release which spread contamination south hitting Tokyo, and east hitting their own USS Ronald Reagan.

Paranoid? Unnecessary? Sorry, that's a cruel thing to say to those who were contaminated.

"That's how safe nuclear is."