Let us hope that an infinite amount of new fossil energy is found, and that global warming is not real. Let us hope that fusion, or cold fusion is developed. Peaceful nuclear power was initiated and agreements were made with other nations that gave them access to our peaceful nuclear technology in return for their agreement to abandon nuclear weapon's development. Peaceful nuclear energy began with a key requirement - safety. It may surprise readers to hear this author's conclusion that TMI, in view of the safety backups, could be looked at as a success.
People live longer in high radiation areas like Denver, than they do in low-level areas.
For example, few know that nature's normal background radiation is over 30 times higher than the radiation at the fence of a nuclear reactor. About half our radiation exposure comes from radon, a radioactive gas coming from natural materials in the ground. Prof. Bernard Cohen of the University of Pittsburgh did a US study of the effects of radon, and found that people in areas with the highest radon areas had less cancer than those in the low-level areas. A recent study by the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Nuclear Radiation concludes that the number of deaths from the Chernobyl accident was about 50. They did not bring out that there were some tens of thousands of additional deaths in Europe.