This study examines the formation of the nuclear industry in the Urals from the perspective of radiation safety, identifies objective and subjective factors that led to problems in the field of radiation protection of nuclear facility personnel in the process of developing nuclear production, an assessment of the level and extent of radiation exposure to operating personnel. The author notes that the creation of the domestic nuclear industry took place in extremely difficult conditions of the post-war period and was fraught with many difficulties, especially at the initial stage of the formation of the nuclear industrial complex. During the years of commissioning and development of the first nuclear facilities, first of all, the industry pioneer – the Mayak chemical plant, production personnel had to work under conditions of increased radioactive radiation. The experimental nature of plutonium production in the Urals, the novelty of the problem, the miscalculations and mistakes of designers and scientists, the extremely small amount of knowledge about the effects of radiation on a living organism, the secrecy regime and a number of other reasons led to the emergence of an emergency radiation situation at all main production facilities of the chemical plant, which entailed a significant re-irradiation of nuclear facility personnel. However, at that time, the problems of radiation protection of personnel did not have priority for the country's top political leadership. The main thing was to get plutonium for the first Soviet atomic bomb in the shortest possible time, regardless of the cost.