> An oil leak doesn't mean the system will not function. If oil runs out, then the generator will very much stop functioning, in an ugly and hard to fix manner

> An oil leak doesn't mean the system will not function. If oil runs out, then the generator will very much stop functioning, in an ugly and hard to fix manner. Something you very much don't want in an emergency. > It's something to pay attention and repair, but not something critical. Sure, the thing making sure the reactor doesn't suffer catastrophic damage is not critical. Right. I also must have forgotten that disasters politely add themselves to the schedule with plenty warning time. > Even if the generator fails, passive system will cool down the reactor for a couple of hours, enough for a mobile generator on a truck to arrive and be connected, without any damage. Didn't quite work that way for Fukushima. > There were only one case where generators and all external power supplies had failed, that is of course Fukushima. Even in that context, if the passive systems where not damaged by the tzunami, there wouldn't have been any release of radioactivity. Sure, it only took lots of people working around the clock to keep things contained (so it seems it wasn't something one could just ignore, it needed urgent work), and it cost a huge amount of $$$ to deal with it, and it destroyed those reactors, which is more $$$. That it didn't blow up Chernobyl style is absolutely a great thing, but it probably cost more than it ever made money, and that's not exactly something that encourages anyone to build more.