The evacuations were considered a mistake and caused more harm than good.
There was very little actual damage from the reactors.
In response to the station blackout during the initial hours of the accident and the ongoing uncertainty regarding the cooling status of units 1 and 2, a 2 km radius evacuation of 1,900 residents was ordered at 20:50.[67] However, due to difficulty coordinating with the national government,[68] a 3 km evacuation order of ~6,000 residents and a 10 km shelter-in-place order for 45,000 residents was established nearly simultaneously at 21:23. The evacuation radius was expanded to 10 km at 5:44, and was then revised to 20 km at 18:25. The size of these evacuation zones was set for arbitrary reasons at the discretion of bureaucrats rather than nuclear experts.
This was a failure of the government not anything to do with nuclear power.
Indeed and they have to be. However an overly cautious evacuation order isn’t really a big deal. It should be improved, and learned upon, but lots of government needs improvement.
The evacuations were considered a mistake and caused more harm than good.
There was very little actual damage from the reactors.
This was a failure of the government not anything to do with nuclear power.
Nuclear safety and government are closely connected in most countries, though.
Indeed and they have to be. However an overly cautious evacuation order isn’t really a big deal. It should be improved, and learned upon, but lots of government needs improvement.