I saw China Syndrome the day TMI occurred. I don't regard the film as trashy. In contrast, War Games looked trashy to computer people. The screenplay writers gave a talk about the film at the Palo Alto CPSR meeting. Sorry, Peter, you are wrong.
Reactors do use O-rings.
This was driven by the concern for nuclear terrorism in the late 1970s. We must not mistake quantity for real quality. Let's not confuse quantitative assurance and qualitative. Hans is and was in a unique position to talk about both. He was interviewed by the Rogers Commission.