It would certainly have been cheaper to have disconnected the SCP before the crash,Tourist and after previous incidents. But you raise an interesting point regarding compensation. It is my understanding that MoD has insurances that pay for statutory compensations, however, I do not think that MoD will be able to claim in the case of Nimrod, presumably because of negligence issues. Furthermore the cost of the program to ALARP Nimrod is around £52m, taken directly from other frontline projects. At the same time £2.8Bn has been wasted on BOWMAN.
Think back to the Hercules, cost of foam in 2002, $20,000 per set. Cost of relacement Herc £50m. Cost of crew-priceless.
Negligence in any industry is very expensive, I hope you agree.