IIRC, the environmentalists were exorcised about the fact that Cassini had a nuclear reactor on board, to keep it going in deep space. They were upset about the possibility of it blowing up when it launched, and contaminating the earth with all that nasty nuke stuff.
I didn’t hear a lot about the launch, but loads about the second pass, but that’s just me.
I remember thinking, when Daddy told me how the unit was constructed, that they really went with the overkill approach.