Ask the people who still live downwind of Chernobyl about that.

I'll grant you that a release of radioactive material from a well-constructed, well-maintained nuclear power plant is unlikely, and fear of such an event is misplaced. We "know" people here who live near reactors and/or who've worked intimately with them -- do they exhibit fear, let alone "near-psychotic"?

The effects of radiation on human physiology* are a different issue, Tom. They're a matter of medical science, documented as fact. You do your case about "dirty bombs" no good -- in fact, you dilute it -- by splicing in the anti-nuke-plant issue merely to grind another of your axes.

[* -- Not to mention the poisoning of an ecosystem; see Chernobyl again]