The human element - By Hugh Gusterson

[longship]

1. Gees! I remember hearing about the Idaho accident

The guy was manually trying to pull the control rod out of the research reactor. Suddenly it slipped and came out quicker than he could control. Unfortunately, this was the main control rod, which if drawn out too far would allow the reactor to go super-critical. The resulting explosive reaction propelled the control rod out of the reactor and propelled the operator and the control rod up, where he died by being impaled on the control rod which itself stuck itself into the ceiling along with the impaled body.

I have no citation of this. But I heard it when I was a senior in my physics education.