Cecil Kelley criticality accident

A criticality accident occurred on December 30, 1958, at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico, in the United States. It is one of only ten such events that have occurred outside a nuclear reactor, though it was the third such event that took place in 1958 globally. The accident involved plutonium compounds dissolved in liquid chemical reagents; within 35 hours, it killed chemical operator Cecil Kelley by severe radiation poisoning. Cecil Kelley was a 38 year old chemical operator with 11 years of experience. On December 30, 1958 Kelley was operating a mixing tank at Los Alamos Labs. The purpose of his operation was to recovery residual Plutonium-239 through a chemical process involving various organic solvents and acids in an aqueous solution. The recovered material would then be used in experimentation at the Los Alamos Labs. Due to two previous improper transfer of waste into the tank (for reasons undetermined and of which Kelly had not witnessed) the solution with in the tank was at near criticality when Kelly activated the stainless steel mixer. The activation of the mixer caused the residual Plutonium-239 (which due to the improper transfer twice before was above safety regulations in quantity) to hit criticality. The resulting blue flash exposed Cecil Kelley to high radiation which caused him to pass out on the floor. Other operators nearby heard the thump of his fall and began making their way over. Kelly recovered consciousness and deactivated the mixer but in his dazed state started it up again before walking out the door. The two operators who came to check on him turned the mixer off and found him on the ground outside saying "I'm burning up! I'm burning up!" over and over again. Mistakenly believing due to his sporadic movements that he had been dosed in an acidic chemical the operators took in to a chemical shower stall. They quickly rushed him to the lab's medical room where he vomited and had a bout of explosive diarrhea. When the medical team realized he was suffering from radiation poisoning they had him rushed to the local hospital and began to take samples of his excretions which where confirmed radioactive. He had been exposed to seven times the lethal dose of radiation for a Human adult. The hospital treated him with blood transfusions, morphine and demerol to no effect. With in 35 hours of his initial exposure Cecil Kelly died of heart failure in a fit of restlessness.