[Xellos-_^]

Originally Posted by Dhomochevsky

As an engineer myself, I would not trust them blindly, because they are humans too.
But just as an artist is never fully satisfied with their last creation, an engineer always has something they would do better if they could do a project all over again.
But economic rules usually don't allow this. Often they don't even allow for the best solution from the beginning.

I am a bit of a technocrate/enthusiast myself. Yet I am still against nuclear power in my own country as it is now. That is not because I have bought into some random scare of 'omg NUCLEAR'. It's just my experience of how the industry works.

If a for-profit organization is tasked with operating a nuclear facility, they will lower safety to the lowest possible standard allowed by regulations (or lower if they think they might get away with it) and they will exploit any loopholes not covered by regulations and cut corners wherever possible.

In almost every other sector this is balanced out by the risk of getting fined when something goes wrong, which will cut into the all important profits.

But with nuclear power plants, just like with big banks, that does not work. If something does go horribly wrong, the damages are so astronomical, that the operating company is screwed anyway. If for example a nuclear powerplant around here would make an area of of say 50km around it uninhabitable, in Germany/NRW one of the densest populated areas of Europe (and yes there are several plants nearby), there is no way the company could ever pay up for the damages.
There is also no insurance company that would be crazy enough to insure for such a case. That insurance company would get pulled down along and it wouldn't even make a dent in the total damage number.
The insurance rates alone that would be needed to really prepare for such an event would bancrupt the power company in no time.

But as long as nothing happens, the plants are a cash cow/money printing machine. And it prints more money, when operated at the bare minimum needed to keep it going. Upgrades are only cut directly into profits.

That's why I am not against nuclear power in general, but I am absolutely against nuclear power in the hands of cooperations. These things have to be handled like other vital infrastructure, that may run a deficit, but is not allowed to ever fail. Not even for economic reasons.

make the decision maker and their family live in the plant.