The nuclear peninsula

This book reports a study of the social and psychological implications for the people who work in or live near a high-risk industrial establishment. The establishment focussed on the studies is the nuclear reprocessing plant at la Hague on the Cotentin Peninsula in Normandy, France. The ways in which those working in the plant and living nearby come to terms with the risks in their daily lives is described. A sociology of the nuclear work place with its diversions and hierarchies is developed and an explanation offered for the often unexpected responses of the workers to the fear of irradiation and contamination. By analysing work practices and the language of the work-place it is shown how workers and locals can recognise the possibility of nuclear catastrophe while, at the same time, denying that it could ever happen to them. (UK)