I long thought that the simultaneous release of "The China Syndrome" and TMI led to public fear of nuclear power (TMI happened two weeks after the movie debuted!). But apparently people have studied this and these disasters really didn't have a major effect -- public sentiment generally stayed the same around the time of the accidents[1]

[1] - This link only covers Chernobyl and Fukushima: https://www.ans.org/news/article-321/new-polls-show-substant...

The passage of PURPA in 1978 had a bigger effect. Suddenly utilities were opened to competition. Combined with a slowdown in growth of electric power demand and the window closed on new nuclear.