"More than a month has passed since the one-two punch of an earthquake and tsunami added a third dimension to the tragedy in Japan: a major nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station," writes CISAC's Rodney Ewing in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. "Over the next year, the impact of the Fukushima disaster on the public's perception of nuclear power will evolve, with advocates portraying the event as an opportunity to make an indispensable source of energy safer, and critics characterizing it as a final indictment of the dangers of nuclear energy. As this debate develops, the public would be well served by answers to a few simple but critical questions."

Rodney Ewing: Why are rare events so common?

Topics: Energy | Nuclear energy | Nuclear power | Japan