May I suggest that interested readers go to Wikipedia and look up Sellafield (formerly Windscale). May I also suggest reading an article by Harvey Wasserman on ZNet concerning 3 mile island.
May I submit the thought that comparing the death rate in coal mining with reported deaths from nuclear power enterprises is a bit off the mark. A more appropriate comparison would be deaths from coal mining with deaths from uranium mining. I would also submit that comparing deaths from coal mining with deaths from nuclear energy generation is a difficult if not impossible task because deaths from coal mining are generally instantaneous and countable while radiation induced deaths can occur over weeks, months and years depending upon, among other things, the level of the dosage. These comparisons and others such as traffic deaths are pretty much irrelevant to the ongoing discussion. All such deaths are deplorable and could be considerably reduced by improved management. There are alternative clean energy sources but with few exceptions little investment is made in the necessary research and development.
Big business (and by implication governments) see the nuclear route as an easier way of making profits. As always follow the money trail.

Libera diffusione

Peter, to be sure, Beppe Grillo doesn't need me running to his defence, I know that. I also know he is not going to respond to your comment. He never does and that's his choice. But what he can do, and does, is to express his opinions on the events in Japan. You accuse him of "playing up fears of armageddon"? Have you seen the headlines of papers around the world? They sound concerned and wondering about nuclear power. The world is talking about Fukishama. Every human being on the planet (I'm exaggerating to make the point, but not by that much) is wondering about the wisdom of generating electrical power with the same material atomic bombs are made of. And so does Beppe Grillo and me and you.

You say the earthquake and the tsunami caused the failures of the reactors and that the failures had nothing to do with "technical difficulties" with the reactors. Well, in 2008, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported that safety rules were outdated at the Fukishima Daichi plant. Only three times were safety rules updated after 35 years of operation. The Agency also noted that the nuclear plant and reactors were designed to withstand magnitude 7.0 tremors. Last Friday's earthquake hit magnitude 9.00.

Many nuclear fans excuse the scale of disaster by saying that no one could predict the intensity of the earthquake and vastness of the tsunami. They say the catastrophe was "unimaginable". That's right the catastrophe was unimaginable and that's the reason why insurance companies don't insure nuclear power plants: If they can't imagine the risks,they don't insure them. And we shouldn't build it.

And the comparison of traffic fatalities versus nuclear plants doesn't hold. People are not afraid of driving cars because the car is under their control. They drive it. In fact, whenever I drive by the biggest nuclear power plant in the world, I always ask my friend if he thinks "they" have the uranium, boiling water, under control. And he answers me that we'll know when things are out control when we see each other glow in the dark. And then it will be too late.

My point? Meltdowns in nuclear plants can affect countries and continents and that makes people anxious: coal mines, cars and solar power don't. Especially solar power.

Normally I would agree with much of what you say Mr Grillo about most things. You seem to be one of only a few legitimate opposition people with a voice in Italy.
But, and it's a big but, I do think making Political capital out of the utter disaster still playing out in Japan is inappropriate and in the depths of poor taste. Many of people are suffering through no fault of their own (massive earthquake and tsunamis), much more than you are likely to ever suffer. And you are busy playing up fears of nuclear armageddon.

Everyone knows you are against nuclear power. Everyone knows it. But you are also a scaremonger, and you cherry pick your information to suit your preferred agenda, just like practically all Italy's Politicians. In this sense you and they are the same. You have done it with regard to AIDS (you are an AIDS denialist), and you do it with nuclear power. It's popular I know, but popular isn't necessarily true.

Yes they have a problem at the Fukishima nuclear facility right now, and you are milking it in a most distasteful and, dare I say, dishonest way.

The reason to be wary of nuclear power generation in Italy has nothing to do with the technology. As I wrote the other day in response to something by Marco Travaglio, it has to do with the Italian population's addiction to corruption and organised crime. Until you all deal with that, which will be no time soon I fear, then frankly the Country couldn't be trusted with generating electricity with a hamster wheel.

Your diatribes against nuclear energy however are long on innuendo, anecdote and speculation, and extremely short on fact or evidence. You have an opinion, based on not much really.

How many Italians die on the roads in Italy every year? How many die from smoking related disease? Very stupid people some of them, for driving like psychopaths, with no respect for human life (not even their own), or not giving up smoking and inflicting it on the rest of the public.
How many died at Three Mile Island, or Windscale? In fact, discounting Chernobyl (which is very well understood), how many deaths have occurred in the world as a result of nuclear rector incidents?
Then say how many have died extracting coal from the ground?
And in oil and gas exploration and extraction?

How about a bit of honest perspective for once instead of pandering to people's fears and ignorance?

You have massive systemic, Political, criminal and cultural problems in Italy. You are your own worst enemies, by far, denialists in everyday life, and pandering to fear and ignorance will do nothing to resolve anything.

Oh yes, and after it's all over I hope you'll have the good grace to revisit Fukushima and say how many people are living within an 80 kilometre radius, without ill health. But I bet you won't, because you will have moved on to something else.