but that wouldn't be like the original.
Pretty sure it
would. In CivDOS (which was about the only game I played, between 2002 and 2009 — when I switched to playing Civ3 obsessively instead!), nuke-plants could
definitely go kablooie, and buildings could
definitely be (randomly) destroyed during riots (but maybe you were such a good player that you never suffered any rioting?

).
What I can't remember
for certain is, whether the nuke-plant kablooie was classified (by the game) as a 'Disaster' (like Earthquakes, Volcanoes, Floods, Pirate raids, etc.), or whether it happened in response to a riot (obviously, only in a town with a nuke-plant). But since unlike other Disasters, meltdowns were
caused (rather than prevented) by a specific building, and
preventable by researching Fusion(?) (IIRC), I'm >90% sure it
was the building-destroyed-by-rioters mechanic, which could/would cause a meltdown. Prior to Fusion, I remember this made running a nuke-plant quite risky under a Republic/ Democracy. (Ironic really, considering that the worst nuclear-power accident in the world
to date, the Chernobyl disaster, happened in the USSR...)
Really, the only reason for that <10% uncertainty, is that I last played CivDOS nearly 10 years ago, and I don't remember ever actually seeing more than a couple of meltdowns (if that), in
any of my games — but I
do remember at some point adopting a precautionary policy of
never building nuke-plants before I got Fusion. Not only was the fallout (Pollution) a pain to clean up, since it took a long time, and you only had Settlers to do it with (which themselves cost 40[?] shields, plus food-upkeep per turn), but I
think the meltdown would also cause population-loss in the town as well — like from an ICBM-attack. (Also, I was >15 years younger, and a lot more ideologically opposed to nuclear power on principle — even in a computer game!).
So by the time I felt 'safe' building nuke-plants, I would
also usually be about ready to launch my Ship.