My ~~first~~ second... paragraph was a bit of a simplification.

While that is true, a refinery explosion is far less impactful than a nuclear meltdown.

Don't get me wrong, both are really bad; but a refinery gone wrong doesn't leave huge amounts of land entirely unusable for decades.

Honestly I'd rather avoid both and go for energy sources like wind, solar, hydro, even geothermal. I think we could go a long way if the majority of homes had panels on the roof and some local storage for night time use.

I've said elsewhere; I like the concept of Nuclear energy, I just struggle to trust those that run it, particularly given how neglected much of our existing infrastructure is already.