@Cyber Liberty
Not wholly, as the damages are an inequality function ("greater than" X).
They are arbitrary in the way police and fire protection is charged arbitrarily, with all being taxed for protection. But the actual costs are not arbitrary, if standards are to be met, as each individual facility's cost is based upon their own costs to meet the standard.
I see...that makes sense. I'm concerned because when there is government interference to the market, unrelated factors like bureaucratic preferences can come into play, where some parties get better treatment than others to effect market conditions. We've seen this a lot lately with "renewables."
Personally, I see no reason to ever subsidize coal plants, they're a pretty stable commodity, but I do see a need to do something with nuclear, because the no-nukes fanatics have applied that government pressure to make them impossible to build.