If the nuclear power or life sciences people were putting out press releases saying "our product may kill us all", they'd be dragged into endless Congressional inquiries.

> they'd be dragged into endless Congressional inquiries

The GOP is a cuckold of a proper party. Even in their current miserable state, the House flipping blue will almost certainly prompt this.

Wasnt the Oppenheimer story basically that?

There was https://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2019/09/12/the_fear_th... , but that was (validly) dismissed by other scientists working on it, and also wasn't a discussion that was happening in public because the entire program was secret.

"This will kill a lot of (other) people" was explicit in the building of the bomb, but then so was the entire war effort.