Two Fluor Daniel Hanford workers are back at work after being sprayed with radioactive water.

A pipefitter and a laborer were on a crew working at about 11 a.m. Thursday at Hanford's AY tank farm when the contamination occurred, said Michele Gerber, a Fluor spokeswoman.

The crew was connecting a new pipe to an exist ing pipe. To do so, they had to plug the older pipe.

"When it came time to remove the temporary plug, water splashed out," Gerber said.

"Both men said they felt liquid spray on their faces," she said.

The liquid in the pipe was water that had condensed from a tank's cooling system, Gerber said.

A health-physics technician said the men received some radioactive exposure to their faces, Gerber said.

They were decontaminated and taken to the Hanford Environmental Health Foundation in north Richland for a whole-body count of radioactive exposure. The test indicated the men had not inhaled or ingested any radioactivity, Gerber said.

The health foundation continues to take samples from the men, Gerber said.

The men were not identified.

They returned to work Friday.