Fukushima was build in the 70s, so it might have been a bit outdated (as a layman I have no idea). Was there any significant progress in design of nuclear power plants since then? Can they be shut down more quickly and reliably?
Given enough R&D, could safety of nuclear fission power plants be improved further or is that very unlikely?
In wikipedia it says that only 1 person has died from cancer, while >2000 died from the evacuation itself
It seems that being less aggressive with evacuations and letting some people be exposed to radiation would have actually save more lives
Though maybe that's only in hindsight?. Maybe at the time there was a considerable risk of something terrible but didn't happen?
> Fukushima...
You mean, hit by the most powerful earthquake recorded in Japan, flooded by a tsunami with 13-14 meter-high waves, evacuated, failed to shutdown, had three core meltdowns and several explosions, and resulted in... 1 death from radiation, 2000 deaths from evacuation and 45 radiation-resulted injuries.
I'd say even this outdated design was very, very, very safe.
So far. The population dose will likely cause many more fatal cancers than that (maybe 200?). That those will be impossible to detect above the normal cancer background doesn't mean we can pretend they aren't there.
I know that current statistics regarding nuclear power safety are very good. The reason I am asking is because I often see comparisons between latest or even future renewables technology and decades old nuclear and I am wondering if progress on nuclear has already peaked/stalled.