So far as I know the government doesn't insure them. Three Mile Island was a
huge financial loss for the company that owned it, not just the billion dollars
for the plant but the loss of revenue and the cleanup. So there is a tremendous
financial incentive to not have a large failure. That said, if you live
anywhere near such a plant you personally are assuming significant financial
liability if there is a failure resulting in contamination. Check your
homeowners policy and you will see it excludes nuclear accidents and
contamination. So if your home is deemed contaminated, you will be prevented
from going there and your insurance won't pay but your bank will still insist on
the mortgage payments. So perhaps it is more accurate to say that the
government has arranged to have the public insure for some of the losses.
For lesser failures there is definitely a cost saving attitude in many
corporations where the value of life is pretty small. There is plenty of
complaint about workplace safety regulations and pollution regulations but they
all got their foothold because of some pretty nasty accidents in the past.
With this particular accident I don't know the details of how insurance was
structured (if they didn't self-insure) so I can't say who had to pay for the
loss of their facility but no matter what NDK suffered a significant loss. And
if they did have insurance, the new contracts (or renewals) will have all sorts
of clauses about inspections and following recommendations. As for the person
killed, they should be prepared for a huge payout, if they haven't already.
Interesting though about what happened. The coating was supposed to prevent
iron contamination in the product but it may not have been fully effective in
doing that. Perhaps other coatings might yield a better product?
On 11/26/2013 3:35 AM, Tom Knox wrote:
This quartz crystal accident is a canary in the coal mine that demonstrates how
poor safety and regulations often work in the real world. What I feel is a
bigger concern is the similar risks we have with our aging Nuclear reactors.
Many are over twenty-five years past their intended life.
The problem is today they are paid for, and the government insures them, so
they are very profitable. The question is do any of the safety officials and
inspectors really have the authority to close them when they become inherently
unsafe? I don't think so. I think they will run until one catastrophically
fails. I think government oversight is far to often an illusion.
Thomas Knox
Date: Tue, 26 Nov 2013 00:51:49 -0500
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [time-nuts] Man killed in quartz crystal accident
I oncecancelled my purchase of a home when I found a sign nearby indicating an
underground high pressure gas transmission line. These days they're probably
removing the signs.
Let's hope the government doesn't decide that precise timekeeping is of
strategic value and not permitted amongst ordinary people.
On 11/25/2013 11:49 PM, Joe Leikhim wrote:
If you really want to lose sleep, think about those old rusty 24 inch gas
mains running under your neighborhood like in San Bruno California. The
warning signs were present there as well.
Now thanks to Homeland Security you can't find accurate gas transmission maps
on-line unless you are cleared. So if you are buying a house in a particular
neighborhood, do some walking around looking for signs of buried facilities.
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