[belorn]

During energy discussions here on HN, a common topic is accident insurance. The general principle is that a power plant should have insurance that cover any and all forms of accidents, covering any costs that such accidents may have on people who live around (or in this case downstream) of the plant. Not much mentioning of this in the article so I assume the costs is paid either by the state or by the individual.

[crote]

The issue is that for some accidents the liability is virtually limitless, so insuring it is impossible. Chernobyl is up to $850B already and it hasn't even been cleaned up yet! That's why governments often act as the "insurer of last resort": there is literally no other way to pay for it.

[jgeada]

Shouldn’t that imply that if your project can have such accidents then it shouldn’t be built?

Why are we allowing some entity to profit from the upside and lumber us all with the downside costs?

[jahav]

Llc stands for limited liability company.

Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility.

Thw method to remove limit unlimited liability is at the core of our economical system.

We are allowing it, because it works remarkably well and makes us richer.

[teddyh]

> Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility.

For those who do not recognize it, that’s a quote from The Devil’s Dictionary, written by Ambrose Bierce between 1881 and 1906, published in full in 1911. And yes, that is the full definition given for the word “Corporation”:

<https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/972.html.images#:~:text=COR...>

Full text of the book is freely available here:

<https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/972>

[mistrial9]

to describe that from another angle -- history is full of great violence, great chemical harm, great swindles and great despots "which worked remarkably well and makes us richer" .. Puritans and swamp-hunters have been pushed aside by New York attorneys and their masters of the day. And we allow all of that "because it works remarkably well and makes us richer" .. and I able to type this too.

[Filligree]

No; the expected value can still be positive, even if the long tail is too long for any existing insurance company to handle it.

That’s why the state acts as an insurer instead. There’s an argument to be made that the profits should also be socialised, of course.