Your job might suck, but at least you don’t run the risk of falling into a nuclear reactor cavity.
As reported by MLive, on Tuesday morning at the Palisades Power Plant in Covert, Michigan, a worker slipped into what is essentially a pool of uranium—a clean, borated-water–filled cavity inside the reactor containment building.
According to federal reports, the contractor ingested some of the reactor water before being yanked out, scrubbed down, and checked for radiation. They walked away with only minor injuries and about 300 counts per minute of radiation detected in their hair.
That sounds like a lot, but apparently it isn’t terribly serious. He underwent a decontamination scrubdown and was back on the job by Wednesday.
Holtec International, the company that owns the plant, says the worker was following all safety rules and was wearing the complete PPE package, including a life vest, when they fell in.
While shipments of uranium fuel had just arrived at the plant the day before, the company insists no uranium fuel had been loaded yet.
Nuclear Plant Worker Falls Into Reactor Pool, Needs Emergency Decontamination
Palisades shut down in 2022 after a part failed, but now it’s the first commercial reactor to be decommissioned and is on track to fire back up.
Critics, nervous about the prospect of a nuclear facility close to their home, are urging local officials to reconsider the plant’s revival, and a worker falling into the reactor water and swallowing a little bit surely isn’t the best look at a time like this.
Holtec isn’t letting that stop them. In fact, they also want to build a series of smaller, modular reactors on the same site.
The point is, you may occasionally have a rough day at work. Your boss might chew you out, and your coworker might be the stupidest person on the face of the earth. But at least you’re not the guy who fell into a nuclear reactor and drank some of the atomic reactor juice.
The post A Nuclear Plant Worker Fell Into a Reactor Pool—and Somehow Survived appeared first on VICE.
