Worker Falls Into Nuclear Reactor

Next time you think you’re having a bad day at work, spare a thought for the contractor who had to be hauled out of a nuclear reactor pool on Tuesday.

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.” 

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.

Palisades, located directly on the Lake Michigan shoreline, is one of a number of decommissioned plants being resurrected by Donald Trump’s Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), a historically independent agency prior to its complete takeover by this administration. The day before the accident, MLive reported Palisades had received a shipment of uranium fuel from a mysterious source. The fall took place as plant staff were in the middle of loading the new fuel rods into the reactor core, a process which takes several days.

When it comes back online, the Michigan nuclear site would become the first commercial reactor to restart after being decommissioned, though activist groups warn that nuclear officials are prioritizing speed over safety.