A contaminated metal sliver punctured the hand of a Bechtel Hanford Inc. worker in the N Basin area Wednesday. He was treated at a special facility next to Kadlec Medical Center designed to handle contaminated patients, and he returned to work Thursday, said Mike Hughes, Bechtel's vice president for operations. The N Basin is part of the N Reactor complex. The basin consists of two big connecting indoor pools filled with water that once held spent nuclear fuel until it was transferred elsewhere.
Radioactive sediment ranging from a thin layer to a few feet deep covers the bottom.
Other radioactive debris and equipment, plus small broken-off bits of spent fuel, are scattered in the basin. Workers wear protective clothing in the basin area to safeguard them from radioactive contamination. On Wednesday, a worker was leaving when he noticed a bit of blood on his cotton glove liner. He did not realize until then that he had a wound, Hughes said. Health workers checked him and found a small puncture wound about the size of a pen point in his palm that showed radioactive contamination, Hughes said.