Re: ?? Harold McCloskey Info

["John Moulder" <jmoulder@post.its.mcw.edu>]

> the story of Harold McCloskey. Dubbed in the article as 
> the "Atomic Man", McCloskey is identified as a "technician who survived 
> a 1976 accident at Hanford that sprayed his face with the largest 
> human dose of radiation ever recorded.

This is reference to the 1976 Hanford Americium accident; also referred to, I 
think, as "USTRU case 246".

> 1) How did the accident occur?

It was a chemical explosion inside a glove box

> 2) What's the best estimate on how much radiation he received? 

Dose to what?  The dosimetry is very complex.
Latest estimate of life time dose I've seen is:
Bone  18 Gy
Liver  8 Gy
Lung   1.5 Gy

An overview article was published in Health Physics last year (69:310-317, 
1995), and an entire issue was devoted to the accident back in 1983 (Heath 
Physics 45(4), Oct 1983).  The 1983 issue is dedicated to McCluskey,

The interesting point made in the 1995 article is that, based on BEIR-IV risk 
estimates, the probability of his _not_ developing a fatal cancer was only 12% 


John Moulder (jmoulder@its.mcw.edu)