Certainly the amount of over-confidence, downplaying and sheer denial over the Fukushima incident has been quite astonishing to witness. Repeatedly, pundits of all kinds lined up to insist that the plant was in a safe condition and that everything was under control and that there was no possibility of contamination spreading beyond the plant perimeter. It may take some time before we know the full extent of the environmental damage. If I was living in the north or Japan I'd be extremely concerned about the health effects over the next few years and decades.