Worker Falls Into Nuclear Reactor, Drinks a Little "Cavity Water"

"The accident happened early in the morning at the Palisades Power Plant in Covert, Michigan, a single-combustion facility operating a pressurized water reactor. After tumbling an unknown distance into the nuclear cavity, the unnamed contractor was quickly decontaminated and sent to seek emergency medical care with minor injuries, MLive reported. Unfortunately, while they were down there, the worker also "ingested some amount of cavity water," according to the federal incident report."

""While performing work inside the containment building, a Palisades contractor fell into a pool near the reactor that contained clean, borated water," a plant spokesperson told MLive. Though plant safety personnel ran them through a full battery of decontamination procedures, the federal report notes the unlucky contractor still had "300 counts per minute detected in their hair." When dealing with radiation, "counts per minute" is used to screen patients for contamination."

"For context, 300cpm above background is the threshold used by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to triage contaminated emergency personnel for access to operations centers during a nuclear emergency. Still, plant officials told MLive the employee had already returned to work by Wednesday - something anti-nuclear activists say exemplifies the hasty work being done at the Michigan facility."

A contractor at Palisades Power Plant fell into a borated-water pool inside the reactor containment early Tuesday. The contractor ingested some cavity water and underwent full decontamination before being sent for emergency medical care with minor injuries. Post-decontamination screening detected 300 counts per minute in the worker's hair. Counts-per-minute screening and a 300cpm FEMA threshold are used to triage contaminated personnel during nuclear emergencies. Plant officials report the employee returned to work the following day. Palisades sits on Lake Michigan and has received recent fuel shipments while decommissioning activity and regulatory changes continue.

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