Recalibrating risks: reactions to Three-Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima

Three nuclear power plant accidents have deeply affected the public and the nuclear industry worldwide: Three-Mile Island in Pennsylvania in 1979, Chernobyl in the Ukraine in 1986, and Fukushima Dai-ichi in Japan in 2011. The perception of the risk by the public at the time of each accident, was shaped by its direct consequences, fears of delayed effects of nuclear radiations, the media coverage, the political climate, and the general understanding of different reactor types at the time. The public was thus influenced to some degree by the distance, both geographic and cultural, from the accident site, and by political and economic situations.