Nuclear Plants in Japan

Well I used to be very much against nuclear power, lately I'm a bit more unsettled with it all. Global warming is upon us and far from enough have been done in the past years to stop greenhouse gas emissions. At the current stage of things I think nuclear power is a necessary evil that we have to live with if there is to be any hope left for mankind and life on earth as we know it to handle the global warming that we as humans are responsible for.

In that light I think it is important not to become hysterical about what is happening in Japan right now after the big earthquake. The nuclear plant that exploded is terribly old technology, as I understand it this is still pretty much the same design as the one on Three Mile Island ... it is close to 30 years ago that disaster happened!
I have a feeling that maybe it would be better for some of us environmental fanatics (I count myself one of them even though I am not as active as I once was) to spend our energy on opposing old fashioned nuclear power plants being build.

There exists nuclear power plant technology now that in my eyes makes them acceptable.
Wind energy, solar energy and other renewable forms of energy I far far prefer to nuclear energy, no doubt about that.
I do however prefer nuclear energy to coal power.

At presently I doubt that the political will is there to make the switch to total renewable energy sources. It could be done, only the political will is not there.
I don't know how to get that political will, I know it is worth fighting for, but it doesn't seem realistic to me that politicians should suddenly turn sensible.

*edit* if you want to know what is going on in Japan this is the best best explanation I have found yet *edit*