This theory about an all powerful nuclear industry falls apart when you consider Japan shut down its nuclear plants in 2011 and hasn’t turned many them back on. There were a lot of problems with Japans communication about Fukushima and risks, however there is also a lot of misinformation, particularly when it comes to radiation levels outside of japan.

>”I haven't forgotten the iodine-131 readings in the rain here in Portland, in March 2011.“

Here is the EPA report on iodine-131 levels: >”Boise, Idaho and Richland, Washington, showed trace amounts of Iodine-131 – about 0.2 picocuries per liter in each case. An infant would have to drink almost 7,000 liters of this water to receive a radiation dose equivalent to a day’s worth of the natural background radiation exposure we experience continuously from natural sources of radioactivity in our environment.”

>”My guess would be that an honest assessment of excess deaths would run in the tens of thousands from Fukushima and Chernobyl.”

The UN did an assessment of Chernobyl and estimated 4000 current and future deaths. I belive the estimates for Fukushima range between 500 and 2000, many of which come from the evacuation (exacerbated by the largest tsunami in Japanese history).