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Site of 1976 "Atomic Man" Accident To Be Cleaned

mdsolar writes with news about the cleanup of the site that exposed Harold McCluskey to the highest dose of radiation from americium ever recorded. Workers are finally preparing to enter one of the most dangerous rooms in the world — the site of a 1976 blast in the United States that exposed a technician to a massive dose of radiation and led to his nickname: the "Atomic Man." Harold McCluskey, then 64, was working in the room at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation when a chemical reaction caused a glass glove box to explode. He was exposed to the highest dose of radiation from the chemical element americium ever recorded — 500 times the occupational standard. Hanford, located in central Washington state, made plutonium for nuclear weapons for decades. The room was used to recover radioactive americium, a byproduct of plutonium. Covered with blood, McCluskey was dragged from the room and put into an ambulance headed for the decontamination center. Because he was too hot to handle, he was removed by remote control and transported to a steel-and-concrete isolation tank. During the next five months, doctors laboriously extracted tiny bits of glass and razor-sharp pieces of metal embedded in his skin. Nurses scrubbed him down three times a day and shaved every inch of his body every day. The radioactive bathwater and thousands of towels became nuclear waste.

4 of 299 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Faith in God by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    The prayer is often for the doctor being competent.

  2. I would rob banks by gelfling · · Score: 5, Funny

    The note would say "I am highly radioactive put the money in the bag."

  3. Re:But.. but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Europeans beware... the statement "underwear over your pants" is recursive - please do not try to execute this sentence on a production brain.

  4. Re:Faith in God by CaptainDork · · Score: 5, Funny

    I am a scientist and it does not threaten my faith.

    The two are separate and I don't pit one against the other.

    Both are tools to be used on a different scopes of work.

    I keep the two isolated except at the very end of each day.

    I wonder what the hell is going on and it's so elusive, I appeal to the gods for help.

    --
    It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.