Baywood Publishing Co.

Nuclear servitude; subcontracting and health in the French civil nuclear industry.

Thébaud-Mony, an occupational health sociologist at France's National Institute for Health and Medical Research and the Interdisciplinary Research Institute on Social Issues-Social Sciences, Policies, Health, presents public officials, public health professionals, radioprotection specialists, academics, students, and others with a study of the maintenance workers who are subcontracted from outside companies to perform reactor inspection, upkeep, and repair of French nuclear plants. She explains how the choice to subcontract this work was based on structural developments in employment, work, and occupational health over the last 30 years and contradictions specific to the industry. Drawing from research conducted from 1988 to 1997, she describes the experiences of these workers and contradictions between economic constraints and radiation protection regulations, as the workers take 80 percent of the total annual occupational exposure to ionizing radiation. She shows how the legitimacy of subcontracting work was constructed and the consequences for workers' health and plant safety. The book was translated from the French edition, L'industrie Nucléaire: Sous-traitance et Servitude (2000), by Amy Jacobs-Colas. (Annotation ©2011 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)