"This coolant system is fundamentally flawed!"
"Sorry, comrade, I do not understand."
"Consider this control rod setup: if I understand the materials and the methods correctly, the insertion of the control rods will initially cause heat output to rise rather than fall."
"But tests indicated---"
"Think, you idiot! Think! And look at the steam release system! This is totally incapable of handling anything out of normal operating conditions!"
"But, comrade, the basic engineering has been proven---"
"This is not basic engineering anymore! If a failure happens because of your design, you could be sent to the gulag, do you understand? You must seriously revise this design before it can be considered to be compliant with our standards."
"Yes, comrade!"
"Last but not least, I strongly suggest you look at other, more sensible designs, and stop drinking so much vodka, it is bad for nuclear engineering."
"Yes, comrade!"
---
fast-forward to later 1986...
---
"We have a severe nuclear gap with the Soviet Union. This is a gap in the quantity of nuclear weapons possessed, as well as in nuclear energy generated. We must increase spending on both fronts in order to protect ourselves from the Soviet menace. Just as the Soviets beat us to outer space but we beat them to the moon, they have beaten us to safe nuclear power generation but we will surely overcome them in upgrading our entire energy infrastructure. Incidents such as Three-Mile Island must not be allowed to happen again, especially when the Soviets have clearly not had any such problems themselves."
---
So now what?