Worked Nuke Plant Operations over twenty years, was pretty intense most days. Security was beyond foolish and the rigidity of management to positive change beyond belief. We had the feedwater heaters in our plant changed on two separate outages, even replaced the entire condenser, the turbine, Steam Generators and reactor vessel head all over the top in screening contractors, trucks, inbound equipment. I got tired of the 'Stupid' aspects, got tired of the waste expenditures required by our Government regulators for Eye Candy or Window Dressing changes to cost the industry millions every year only actually emphasizing the regulators necessity to be on the sites. Watching Security do their little dance when a Honey Bucket entered the yard for a 'Explosives Inspection' which was supposed to include INSIDE the tank was pretty funny.
Never internally contaminated, know of three that had paper plates and baggies to put them in for uptake poops over a week. Stuff is dangerous but for the most part the commercial side is relatively over regulated, over sensitive and well over the top as to human safety. I retired as I could not hold my tongue any longer and was gonna tell someone off I shouldn't.
The pre-70's work in Atomic energy was poorly constrained, they had absolutely no clue as to what this stuff did to humans or how much exposure would hurt, all were guinea pigs that worked those facilities in those years, sad but very true.
