That is your problem. As we are dealing with something so potentially dangerous do you really think we can trust any government that is being lobied by private interests. Just look at the UK, the government have and continue to sell off all controlled assetts and services. Nuclear in the UK is and would be run privately, by people wanting to make a profit and who are lobying (corrupting) the government.
Again, in the general case i tend to agree. I don't want to make this about me and my country, but there are reasons why i am not too worried about Finnish nuclear power. I guess politics is fundamentally the same everywhere but despite the differences in party agendas, i have to say that basically i trust our politicians. That does not mean at all that i agree with them on every issue, but there are 2 things that build confidence: transparency and lack of corruption. I'm sure you can't know it, but Finland has repeatedly been ranked as one of the least corrupted, indeed often _the_ least corrupted country in the world. That does not mean there is none, but it also means that large scale capers are an automatic political suicide. Mr Berlusconi's political career in Finland would be about 10 seconds in duration. Recently it became the done thing for each MP and minister to publicize their private financial status, i.e. personal debts and holdings in various commercial enterprises and similar things. Even trivial (elsewhere) items like taxi costs for MPs and things on that level can cause headlines here. And i promise you that not a single national level investment but causes endless discourse between the politicos and media. Of course that is the same everywhere but there doesn't seem to be a culture of hiding the decision making process behind smoke & mirrors. I don't know if such a thing as a national character exists really, but at least you can say that we lot are a pretty homogeneous bunch (some would use the word inbred...
) and still as a rule consider that a man's word is his bond, even for politicians to some degree. Seems to result in less diverging/hidden agendas overall, i don't know.
So what i probably try to say is that while there is certainly lobbying it is at least mostly quite visible and tractable.
Just look at the massive fuck up in the Uk over the way the banks got away with it, I have no doubt large scale control of nuclear would go the same way. As we all sit here with our technical minds we need to remember that we are governed by a bunch of assholes that have to technical grounding, want to be popular AND rich. I have no faith in human nature, and proof of dishonesty in the field of energy is the lack of clarity in comparisons between current and prospective means of energy generation. I am well aware of the overwhelming problem and that it won't be solved by panels on a few houses or turbines in fields, the true all round answer is to look at our consumption first, but then I forgot that is tabu to tell people what to do and not to be wasteful, while that will save energy, leave the energy companies and the government out of pocket (taxes).
This argument will always revolve around money and politics, shoot the politicians and replace them with engineers and we'd be coming up with solutions in under a year !
We have had our issues with bank subsidies as well, but nothing earth shaking. A number of banks have folded and those that remain have probably learned a few lessons even though they escaped the full consequences of their actions..
Here the power companies are private enterprises as well. They of course lobby their case like everyone else. But bribery - i really don't think so. In Finland there is a government agency (Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority
http://www.stuk.fi/en_GB/) that issues permissions to construct and operate a nuclear generating station. That agency is in turn under higher political oversight by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health and operates closely with the Ministry of Trade and Industry. Referring to what i wrote above, I have a hard time picturing those boys to be bribed by a power company. Theoretically possible of course, but as the government operations and decisions are completely transparent, the process can be challenged at any time. Go see the Rad Authority web page that i linked, to see what i mean. Specifically on this page is a simplified picture of the assessment and monitoring process:
http://www.stuk.fi/ydinturvallisuus/ydinvoimalaitokset/ydinvoimalaitosluvat/en_GB/luvat/Politics is the running of common affairs. Money will always be of primary interest to everyone so is naturally in the epicentre of politics in multiple ways. But to replace politicians with another group of people is really not recommended. I repeat myself, but who else should run our common affairs if not the politicians whose specific job it is? Engineers - no way. The majority of us are nerds and anoraks who can't give a shit about common issues, are totally incompetent and as useful as pope's balls. Who else then - the military? Hmm, its been tried and is being tried in many places with sad results. The only place where it seems to - kinda - work is Thailand where they every now and then throw the corrupt prime minister out the window and a colonel or two look after things for a while. The people don't seem to be any worse off and eventually the next PM pops up. Not my kind of democracy but seems to work for them. Mainly i guess because everyone is loyal to the king in the end...
Edit: typos