alt Hacker NewsA challenge with news like this is there isn't an easy risk reference to put it into perspective. People only think of Chernobyl, Fukushima, 3-mile island, etc etc. We don't have something personal to relate it to to help us determine 'NBD, why is this a story?' or 'Wow! That was close!'. In everyday life I generally use driving to help me determine how risky something is. Driving is something most people do somewhat regularly and that we recognize as risky so we put controls on like training, regulations, special services, etc etc. Anything more risky than driving makes me really take notice. Anything less and I don't shrug it off, but I also don't get too worried.
I appreciate the factual nature of this story but I think an important aspect of journalism is giving people relatable references that allow them to better understand the information presented. It would be helpful if a story like this gave that context because without it it is hard to understand if this is 'Wow! What a close one!' or 'I guess this is a little interesting?'.
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I'm pretty sure the context here would require college level courses plus industry training on operational procedures to actually understand in any meaningful sense. Not much different than any other time some safety feature triggers at any other highly complex and hazardous industrial facility. Except that in all those other cases the media ignores it and leaves it to the technical experts who do understand the context to sort it out, and everybody goes on with their lives never knowing about it. But since this particular highly complex and hazardous industrial facility is a nuclear power plant what we will get is journalists who know nothing about the subject screaming about it to millions of other people who know nothing about it who will assume it was a near miss on killing half the population of Florida.
You only accept the risks of driving because its normalised in your community. In many communities, public transport is the norm and it would be considered foolish to hand over car keys to a majority of the population.