The Atomic Man. That was the destiny awaiting this young man
seen here in his high school graduation picture. I
think that it's true what Forrest Gump's mother said that, "Life is like a
box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get". I
don't think that this young man knew what life's "box of chocolates"
had in store for him. Later in life he
would become known as "The Atomic Man" as the result of a terrible
radiation accident involving massive contamination.
It was August 30, 1976 and he was working the midnight to
8:00 am shift at the Hanford Plutonium Finishing Plant located in the state of Washington.
He was 64 years old and had been working at the Hanford plant as a Chemical
Operations Technician since the 1940's.
He was a seasoned veteran at his job. Working with glove boxes to extract
radioactive Americium-241. It was a
very large glove box.
It might be hard to visualize just what a glovebox is and
how it is used and so here is a picture of what a typical small one looks like.
The glovebox isolates the material that you may be working
with if it is hazardous.
Harold McCluskey was working as a chemical operations
technician at the Hanford Plutonium Finishing Plant and more specifically in
the Americium Recovery Facility.
Hanford
plant
At 2:45 am on that early Monday morning of August 30, 1976
when there was an explosion inside the glove box that Harold McCluskey was
working at.
He was blown backwards and his gas mask was ripped from his
face. Pieces of metal and glass
contaminated with Americium-241 were embedded in his face as well as breathing
in Americium-241. He also received a
blast of nitric acid to his face which temporarily blinded him. In a few seconds he had received 500 times
the amount of Americium that was considered safe. He was placed into isolation in the medical
unit where they tried to decontaminate him but he was still radioactive, and
thus became known as The Atomic Man. He
received free medical care for life and a settlement of $250,000 for his
injuries. He also received a life of
radioactive contamination causing some of the townspeople to shun him.
There had been some speculation as to whether or not he
might die from his radioactive contamination.
However, he lived another 11 years dying at the age of 75 from heart
trouble. An autopsy was performed and no
cancers were found in his body. He was
buried in the cemetery of the nearby town of Prosser where he lived.
His wife Elladale lived for another 16 years after his death
and passed away in 2003.
It is amazing how much an individuals life can change in a
matter of a few seconds. I was glad
that I could find some pictures of Harold McCluskey to include in the blog to
remind us that Harold McCluskey was not a fictional character but a real person
who undoubtedly had the same ambitions and hopes that we all have. Let's not forget this individual and his
story.
For a similar story of another individual do an internet
search on The Radioactive Boy Scout or David Hahn and an absolutely fascinating
story (real life) will be revealed.
David Hahn
David Hahn
Have a good day of surfing the internet for interesting
articles to read. Lew
