>Eyestrain and standing around all day is definitely preferable to a job where ... start vomiting and die two days later.

I too share your fascination with the nuclear incidents, but I felt that the takeaway point of the article was that our fascination is entirely disproportionate. As cool as the 'demon core' is, you can just as easily die driving a bulldozer or digging a trench.

Perhaps our excitement and enthusiasm leads indirectly to the generally disproportionate fear that the general public have of anything linked to radiation or nuclear physics.