They make nuclear bombs too....doesn't mean they pop one off occasionally for the fugg of it.
But Jim, they do, at least, when they can get away with it. There is an excellent non-fiction book called "The Firecracker Boys" by Dan O"Neill. Alaska, 1950's. The nuclear scientists were planning to nuke the Arctic with 6 of the biggest bombs they could create. Just for the fun of it. We are lucky it never happened, although it took 10 years to make them stop. In the meantime their nuclear storage facility in the Arctic leaked and the caribou, along with the natives, and the plants and rivers are still suffering from it. It is really a good book, but chilling. And now I believe any "accidents" can and do happen with research.