In spring of 1977, I was a 19-year-old welder from Connecticut venturing to the Midwest seeking better pay for my labor.  With welding school and a year and a half of welding experience on nuclear subs at General Dynamics’ Groton, Connecticut shipyard under my belt, the future looked promising.

After checking in at the Boilermaker’s Union hall in Cleveland, I reported to the future site of the Perry Nuclear Power Plant. The plant was only starting to take shape. There were skeletons of future buildings and a large crater where the containment building was to be built. The workers were lowered into it by crane in a man-cage.

Thousands of man-hours later a nuclear power plant rose out of this and within a few years an operating power plant existed. Only the blood, sweat, and tears of many men and women working long hours for years made this a reality.

The nuclear industry supplied me and many other workers with well-paid jobs for decades. New construction led into refueling outages at operating nuclear sites. The industry evolved into something new, requiring specific training, background checks, drug testing and . . . radiation dose . . . lifetime dose. 1000 mRem = 1 Rem. Workers’ lifetime doses rose steadily; 5, 10, 20, 30 Rem and sometimes more. The trade-off for well-paying jobs was accepting radiation dose. Although the risk is low, as explained in radiation worker training, it is real.

And what about the waste? The nuclear waste issue is unique because the half-life of the radioactive waste can be thousands of years. Should one or a few national waste depositories be used? Should waste be stored at each site, encapsulated in concrete and steel with billboards and chain link fences so all generations will know and stay away? I don’t have an answer. Hopefully a resolution will be found so future generations will not suffer from the consequences.

-One Man’s View