Rugged and bleak coastal landscape near the reprocessing plant

As a professional, he feels responsible for his safety. This puts the social constraints into perspective. He considers his work at the nuclear power site a result of a balanced choice, rational and reasonable, and that the daily pendular movement between his home and his work is a choice within his own power to make. On the other hand, he notes that the connection of radioactive materials to his house, with a reduced distance, is no longer under his control, and that in this case, he can no longer mobilize his authority or his technical know-how. In practical terms, he fears a transportation accident that he cannot control and which would lead to radioactive cargo turning over close to his home. 

The individual sees that his private sphere is threatened by a radioactive intrusion of which he has no measure of control. In a case of this nature, it is the mobilization, by the authorities and public powers with the means and professional competencies, especially reserved for public domain, that are about to threaten and overcome his privacy. This radioactive intrusion is, consequently, difficult to control because the resources of the individual are not adequate, and he is not a professional. If he is an expert in radioactivity, it is at the plant, and not at his home, where he is socialized in a familial group, which stipulates certain social behaviors and bans others. If there is confusion between the two spaces, the hegemony of the public sphere will trump that of the private. This breeds distortion and will thus lose its special features. It is an intolerable situation because it signifies the loss of intimacy, autonomy and individual identity. The growth of the nuclear risk outside its rightful limits and outside of the dedicated industrial zones is where the eventuality of nuclear risk will penetrate changes in the private sphere and the relationship to the risk. The result is that the views of the individuals are confronted. 

1 Nuclear Energy, Private Space and the Public Donmin 

A resident near the reprocessing plants in La Hague, a woman, who was also a cleaning agent, told of an incident that gave evidence of the evolution of the issue  

I went to work as usual. I clean the offices. But, one morning I found myself facing a barrier that blocked the passage into the area. 1 went to find out about it and someone told me that the day before, there was a fire in a room that stored contaminated cloth and that the radioactive fumes contaminated the place where I worked. They checked me out and I was contaminated. They made me take a shower immediately, they cleaned my car and then 1 went home. But, no one went to see my husband who had used my car in the meantime to go grocery shopping and sat in the radioactive dust. No one came to verify if my house was radioactive, the same house I went back to the day before because no one said anything to me. 

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Fig. 100.7 Rugged and bleak coastal landscape near the reprocessing plant...

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