Lifetime Follow-up of the 1976 Americium Accident Victim

• Published in: Radiation protection dosimetry 1989-01, Vol.26 (1-4), p.317-322
• Main Authors: Breitenstein Jr, B.D., Palmer, H.E.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0144-8420; 1742-3406
• DOI: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.rpd.a080424

This report describes the 11 year medical course of Harold R. McCluskey, a Hanford nuclear chemical operator, who, at age 64, was involved in an accident in an americium recovery facility in August 1976. As a result of the accident, he was heavily contaminated with americium (241Am), sustained a substantial internal deposition of this isotope, and was burned with concentrated nitric acid and injured by flying debris about the face and neck. The immediate and long-term medical care is summarised, including decontamination procedures, chelation therapy, and routine and special clinical laboratory studies. The estimates of the operator's 241Am deposition, post-accident and during the remainder of his life and the special techniques and equipment used to make the estimates, are reported. Post-accident, the total amount of 241Am excreted in his urine and faeces was 41 MBq (1.1 mCi). He died of complications of chronic coronary artery disease on 17 August 1987.