It is time to turn our attention to the plant itself, the buildings of which are gradually taking over the plateau of la Hague, and to the men and women who converge on it day after day. Let us first try to find out who works there and what physical arrangements are in place on the site governing the organisation of this high-risk environment.

Talking in acronyms

Staff at the plant are either TDA, TNDA, or TNA. These initials denote the different categories of personnel and constitute the first ‘words’ you hear on entering the plant. Initials and acronyms abound on the site, peppering every conversation to the point of rendering it incomprehensible to the uninitiated. As well as categories of personnel, the various shops, the different departments, and the many boards and committees are all referred to in this way. Working at the plant involves familiarising yourself with a whole new language – a code, in effect, that allows those who belong to the plant not only to communicate with one another but to exclude ‘outsiders’. From the outset there is an element of complicity between people who employ the acronyms and a corresponding exclusion of those who do not understand them. Not surprisingly, this hardly has the effect of facilitating communication between the nuclear people and the rest.

At the plant, initials and acronyms thus operate like the words of a language whose use is reserved for those who enter in and work intra muros.