I thought of an initialy regulated industry!... (fwd)

[Jim Choate]

Forwarded message:

> Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1998 10:46:05 -0700
> From: Tim May <tcmay at got.net>
> Subject: Re: I thought of an initialy regulated industry!...

My original quote:

> >I'd like to hear from any free market mavens who might want to use the
> >nuclear industry as an example of how things could be so much better with no
> >regulation regarding construction, operation, or waste disposal.

Partial quote of Tim:

> "Regulation" of the nuclear power industry had the predicted effect of
> overly conservative designs being standardized. Specifically, the
> Westinghouse boiling water designs, basically frozen in 1955 and little
> changed since then.
> 
> Ordinary evolutionary improvement, plus revolutionary improvement, has not
> been possible. (Some examples would include inherently fail-safe designs
> like the Canadian CANDU reactor, and various improvements the French have
> made in the original Westinghouse design.)

Ok. I agree that over-regulation is bad. CCCP, China, Cuba, etc. are clear
examples of how over-regulation is a failure.

However, my question was to defend the free-market position that *no*
regulation provides an improved environment for (in this case) reactor
design.

Apples and oranges...


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