This article explores the politics of permissible exposure for US nuclear workers. I argue that despite recent efforts to improve regulations for occupational radiation protection, the federal government has been unable to solve the fundamental paradox of nuclear safety: that some level of exposure is unavoidable when working with nuclear materials and that any level of exposure comes with an associated biological risk. In short, injury is an operational necessity of nuclear industry. Thus nuclear safety can never mean total protection for workers—it can only ever be the level of exposure that has been deemed acceptable relative to the benefits of radiation. In this article, I trace the historical development and daily life of this cost-benefit calculus. I consider how acceptable risk frames exposure as integral to economic development and national security, normalizing nuclear injury as an unfortunate, yet necessary, part of modern life and work.

中文翻译：

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剂量生活：核工作和允许暴露的政治

本文探讨了美国核工作人员允许接触的政治因素。我认为，尽管最近努力改进职业辐射防护法规，但联邦政府一直无法解决核安全的基本悖论：在处理核材料时，一定程度的暴露是不可避免的，并且任何程度的暴露都伴随着相关的生物风险。总之，伤害是核工业的运行需要。因此，核安全永远不会意味着对工人的全面保护——它永远只能是相对于辐射的好处而言被认为可以接受的暴露水平。在本文中，我追溯了这种成本收益计算的历史发展和日常生活。