Several years ago I worked on/in a nuke plant as a pipefitter. This particular job was a maintenance shut down, in other words, the plant was shut down and we were required to work in “hot” areas.
We donned two pairs of coveralls, two shoe protectors, two hoods covering our heads and two pairs of gloves. The only exposed skin areas were our faces, but radiation monitors had gone into these work areas with gieger counters and in some cases, we were also required to wear full-face gas masks.
We wore a radiation badge which was read once a week and replaced once a month. We also carried a pocket dosimeter, much like a large pen. These were read weekly and reset. In addition, when working in the super-hot areas, we carried another dosimeter (called a “paddy”) which gave off an audible signal when we reached our radiation limit. When the buzzing signal went off, we were required to leave the area immediately, shuck all the protective clothing, have a rad monitor take a reading and if he read no radiation, we changed into our street clothes and went to the lunchroom. We were only allowed to work inside the reactor one day a week. The other 4 days of the work week was spent in the lunchroom. Lot of card games, reading and bs sessions. A few of us had been selected to work those other 4 days down the road at the tank farm. Because I was one of those tank farm guys, my rad count was set at a lower number so I could work in the lower rad areas of the tank farm. At the tank farm we were only required to wear only one set of coveralls.
All that said, monitoring of radiation exposure was completely documented and we were well within safe limits of exposure.
Fast forward to present day, because of spine injuries incurred I have undergone numerous x-rays and CT scans.
A program instituted by the Building Trades Council and the US govt., screening programs have been offered to all workers who have worked in the nuke industry. I have taken advantage of these screening programs which revealed some spots on my lungs. Monitoring over the past three years have shown that the spots have not grown in size, so my doc says I’m doin’ OK. For those workers who have had problems, they can file a claim for compensation.
Bottom line, with all the radiation exposure over the years I do not glow at night. Our children had no birth defects.
I later worked construction on two other nuke facilities where radiation exposure was not an issue due to the fact that nuke material had not been loaded into the reactors during my time of employment.
I worked as a Millwright at Plant Hatch in Georgia and North Anna in Virginia doing multiple outages in the 80s and early 90s.
I can pretty much attest to what Dave says. I don’t glow in the dark either :)
Seriously though, I hope everything remains ok with your lungs. I haven’t had mine looked at, but I’m thinking of doing so if the building trades council here offers that.