Fear as Fuel for Profit

The nuclear industry strategically leveraged public fear following significant events like Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, September 11th, and Fukushima to drive revenue through enhanced safety services and regulatory scrutiny. Rather than focusing solely on selling reactors, the industry pivoted to a business model emphasizing safety systems, which ultimately generated substantial profits that exceeded those from selling the original product. This cycle of fear and regulation reinforced the industry's profitability, with mandatory safety analyses leading to multi-million-dollar gains per facility each time fear was heightened.