Editor's note: Daniel P. Aldrich is associate professor of
political science at Purdue University, an American Association
for the Advancement of Science fellow at USAID during 2011-2012,
and a Fulbright research fellow at the University of Tokyo
(2012-2013). He is the author of the books "Site Fights" and
"Building Resilience" (University of Chicago Press, coming out
in August). (CNN) -- The earthquake and tsunami in northeastern
Japan on March 11 last year took an estimated 19,000 lives,
caused the evacuation of about 300,000 people, and set off the
worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl. The meltdowns of the
Fukushima Daiichi reactors ended Japan's plans to produce half
of its electricity through nuclear energy. All of Japan's
remaining reactors are offline, and experts believe that strong
anti-nuclear feelings will keep them from restarting for some
time. Beyond Japan's shores, the crisis has pushed Germany,
Italy and Switzerland to end their commitment to nuclear power.
Fukushima has given U.S. nuclear r