Already the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal have articles about the US public's concerns and fears over nuclear power safety and the political fallout in the US from the failure of the cooling systems and potential meltdown at several Japanese nuclear energy facilities.
The fears of radiation leakage and the building and use of nuclear power plants will be looked at in isolation. The public dialog in the US likely will be build or do not build a nuclear power generating facility. This is an incomplete conversation.
New power generating facilities will be built in the US because our need for more enegry grows as our population and GDP grow.
Imagine the extra devastation and loss of life that might have occurred, if Japan were circled by huge wind turbines and the Tsunami pushed hundreds, if not thousands, gigantic turbine blades into people and buildings. Imagine the devastation from a large solar plant that uses large batteries containing toxic materials, such as lithium, mercury, etc. to store power for times of the day when the sun is unavailable and that toxic material was spread over a city or got into a water supply.
Imagine the difficulty in using emergency vehicles and other transportation modes during this crisis in Japan, if every vehicle were zero emission, did not use carbon emitting fuels and had to rely on non-existent electricity to recharge batteries.
Yes, there should be a public discussion about the safety of nuclear power plants, if the US is going to increase its nuclear power production. The discussion should not be limited to build or do not build a nuclear power plant. The discussion should include consideration of the effects of naturally occurring crises, such as earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, mudslides, droughts, etc., on the different types of power generating facilities, nuclear, wind, solar, natural gas, coal, oil, etc.
Power plants, whether of a green technology or of an old carbon based technology, are large facilities and because many green energy producing technologies are less efficient than old industrial technologies, green technology energy facilities to meet growing energy demands will be huge and numerous. A lot of very huge anythings in times of catastrophe have the possibility of worsening a catastrophe.
Each type of power generator has different adverse risks to the surrounding populace in times of catastrophic crises. When discussing the risk of nuclear energy, consideration of the risks from other large energy generating facilities should be compared simultaneously. In comparison to a gas explosion, oil fires, or the devastation from large structural materials pushed at high speeds with great force by winds, water or mud, towards a populated area, the risk of a nuclear meltdown is only one of many devastating risks from power generating facilities and may not be enough of a risk in comparison to other power sources to limit the use of nuclear power.