re: French nuclear power Part II.
"A great example of a properly run government bureaucracy (sorry, I just couldn't resist that, Tom!)."
One advantage of having govt run it, is they then don't *need to* for all practical purposes run by passing laws which dictate how it's supposed to be run. In other words it's a bit more honest:)
And the only truely private enterprise that manages any nuclear reactors are the Russians. But the lack of oversight is probably due mostly to govt "incompetence".
To think that nuclear industry is open to competitive forces is a bit worse than imagining the space launch business is open- just a tiny bit.