Harold McCluskey

Harold R. McCluskey
Harold R. McCluskey
Born	Harold Ralph McCluskey; July 12, 1912; Decatur, Nebraska, U.S.
Died	August 17, 1987 (aged 75); Puyallup, Washington, USA[1]
Occupation	Chemical operations technician
Employer	Atlantic Richfield Hanford Co.[1]
Known for	Surviving americium radiation exposure
Spouse	Ella Morrow (m. 1936)
Children	2

Harold Ralph McCluskey (July 12, 1912 – August 17, 1987) was a chemical operations technician at the Hanford Plutonium Finishing Plant located in Washington State who is known for having survived, on August 30, 1976, exposure to the highest dose of radiation from americium ever recorded.[2] He became known as the 'Atomic Man'.[3][4][5]

Early life

McCluskey was born in Decatur, Nebraska and attended Riverside High School.[6] He then worked as a mechanic and a farmer and in 1936 married Ella Morrow.[6][4] In 1948 he moved to Prosser, Washington and began working at the Hanford Site.[6]

Accident

On August 30, 1976, McCluskey, then 64, was exposed to 500 times the occupational standard for americium-241, a plutonium byproduct, as the result of an accident in a glove box resulting in an explosion. As nitric acid was added to a column containing an ion-exchange resin and americium, the chemicals exploded, blowing out "pieces of glass and plastic" (plexiglass[1]) from the glove box.[3] Harold McCluskey was exposed to at least 37 MBq of americium-241 and nitric acid.[7] He was hit on the right side by a mixture of nitric acid, broken glass, americium and ion exchange resin.[8]

Treatment

McCluskey was helped from the room, had his clothing removed and was washed with water at the scene. He was transferred to a decontamination facility where he was washed again and given a dose of one gram of Ca-DTPA on arrival. For the first week he had two baths per day, then he had one bath per day for two months. For the first five days he was treated with the calcium complex of DTPA and then after that for four years he was treated with a total of 583 grams of the zinc complex of DTPA. The treatment reduced the systemic deposition to 500 kBq instead of the 19 MBq which he would otherwise have retained inside his body.

Because of risk of exposure to other individuals, McCluskey was placed in isolation in the Hanford Emergency Decontamination Facility for five months and underwent chelation therapy using DTPA by Dr. Bryce Breitenstein.[3] By 1977, his body's radiation count had fallen by about 80%. When McCluskey returned home, friends and church members avoided him. His minister finally had to tell people it was safe to be around him.[9]

Afterwards

Although McCluskey largely avoided the media, Breitenstein said McCluskey sometimes accompanied him when he gave lectures on the case.[3] "He really wanted people to know what happened as long as it is rationally presented," Breitenstein said. Several times after the explosion, McCluskey spoke in favor of developing nuclear power, saying he saw his injuries as the result of "purely an industrial accident."

Death

He died on August 17, 1987, of coronary artery disease in Puyallup, Washington. He had this disease before the accident, and a post mortem examination found no signs of cancer. At the time of his death he had 55 kBq of americium in his soft tissues (27.9 kBq in the liver), 470 kBq in the mineral surfaces of the bones, and 20 kBq in his bone marrow.[8]

References

"Nuclear Accident Survivor Dies". The Associated Press. August 18, 1987. Retrieved August 18, 2021.
Heid, K R; Palmer, B D; McMurray, B J; Wald, N (January 1, 1979). "1976 Hanford americium accident". OSTI.gov. United States. doi:10.2172/6419623. OSTI 6419623.
Cary, Annette (April 25, 2008). "Doctor remembers Hanford's 'Atomic Man'". Tri-City Herald. Archived from the original on February 10, 2010. Retrieved March 6, 2017.
Mahar, Margaret (December 3, 1984). "Blasted in a Radiation Accident Eight Years Ago, Harold McCluskey Is Still the Hottest Human Alive". People. Archived from the original on April 15, 2019. Retrieved August 18, 2021.
Wilma, David (April 23, 2004). "Harold McCluskey becomes the Atomic Man at Hanford on August 30, 1976". HistoryLink.org. Retrieved December 7, 2018.
"Harold R. McCluskey". Tri-City Herald. August 21, 1987. p. 9.
González, Abel J. (September 1999). "Strengthening the Safety of Radiation Sources & the Security of Radioactive Materials: Timely Action" (PDF). IAEA Bulletin. Vol. 14, no. 3. International Atomic Energy Agency. Retrieved March 6, 2017.
Carbaugh, Eugene H. (July 14, 2014). The 1976 Hanford Americium Accident, Then and Now (PDF) (Speech). 59th Annual Meeting of the Health Physics Society. Baltimore, MD. Retrieved March 6, 2017.
"Hanford nuclear workers enter site of worst contamination accident". Billings Gazette. Associated Press. June 3, 2005. Archived from the original on October 13, 2007. Retrieved March 6, 2017.