Grab, if you wish to put the mining of coal into the equation, then you should include the mining of uranium and the ecological and human disaster that has ensued in that endeavour as well.

The only reason its not noted on Chief Chaos's list is that the deaths are usually slow and insidious, not sudden. Fortunately, we mine uranium mostly in 3rd world countries now, where things are conveniently less scrutinized and stringent and the miners lives less valuable.

And while we're telling people why Chernobyl couldn't happen to the new fast-breeder reactor round our way, and how wonderful FBRs are at solving the problems of by-products, let's not forget to mention the few "little problems" associated with them.

For some reason or other fast breeder reactors develop serious leaks and go critical. Both France and Japan have had major difficulties with them and France has permanently shut down it's largest. But at least when things go wrong with an FBR, it doesn't just melt down, it explodes. Whoopee!

Chief Chaos, I have a further suggestion, think really tiny, think White LEDs, another incredibly useful drop in the bucket.