Event Notification Report for February 26, 2009

ABANDONED DENSITY GAUGE DISCOVERED

"Fabric Trends International, 55 Lathrop Rd, Plainfield, Ct. 06374.

"On Thursday the 26th of Feb. at 1145 hours, [I was] notified of an abandoned density gauge at the above facility. [Another] DEP Inspector discovered the device while arriving for an inspection. He did not know the facility was closed. While there with the Owner of the building he discovered the device. He turned over information to [another inspector] who notified Supervision. I called the Owner, after getting information on the registration and the Owners cell phone number.

"At 1300 hours, I met [the Owner] and he led me to the device that was stored in a large plywood box. [The Owner] told me he used to own the business but sold all the equipment to another party. He will send that info to [DEP] on Friday morning. [The Owner] was very familiar with the instrument and stated that it was part of the material he sold from the facility.

"I surveyed the device using a Mod. 3 with 44-38 gamma probe and nothing above background was noted (0.02 mR/hr). I frisked the outside surfaces of the device with the 44-9 probe and did not note any counts above background. I took 3 swipes and counted them and found nothing above background on them. The window on the detector head was broken and this area was part of the head swipe.

"There were no markings found that indicated that the device contained RAM [Radioactive Material]. The only indication was on a DYNO Tape found on the front of the device's meter housing. It stated Beta Gauge. The device info is as follows:

"Mahlo Gravimat FM-1-7a, Type FM1R/7AK, JAHR 1.84/110 volt, Funkentstorgrad G, FABR.NR. 6271/12/709, 1.6 amp, 50/60 hz.

"Detector Head, Ser. No. 6270/710, Stamped on case 3.627050/4.

"[The Owner] stated his lawyers are trying to contact the party that bought out the equipment to get them to take possession of the equipment. I contacted [my supervision] and discussed my findings. The current registration listed four beta devices with Kr 85 and two Gamma devices with Am 241. This device was not on the registration.

"I briefed [the Owner] that as the owner of the property, he was responsible for the device. I suggested that he seal the box with wood screws and that he insure that the device was not moved or handled. I stated that he was responsible to insure the device was not stolen or lost."

The state plans a follow-up inspection at the site tomorrow.

The State of Connecticut Incident Number for this event is 09-026.


THIS MATERIAL EVENT CONTAINS A "LESS THAN CAT 3" LEVEL OF RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL

Sources that are "Less than IAEA Category 3 sources," are either sources that are very unlikely to cause permanent injury to individuals or contain a very small amount of radioactive material that would not cause any permanent injury. Some of these sources, such as moisture density gauges or thickness gauges that are Category 4, the amount of unshielded radioactive material, if not safely managed or securely protected, could possibly - although it is unlikely - temporarily injure someone who handled it or were otherwise in contact with it, or who were close to it for a period of many weeks.

POTENTIAL LEAKING I-125 PROSTATE CANCER THERAPY SEED

A patient was being treated for prostate cancer. After a treatment of (15) I-125 seeds, the magazine used to inject the seeds into the patient was surveyed and the survey indicated that the magazine was contaminated. Initially, the staff believed that a seed may have been stuck inside the magazine. However, upon disassembly the staff determined that the magazine was empty. The prostate cancer therapy treatment continued without incident. The patient was x-rayed, and all seeds were accounted for. A survey of the room, instruments, and packaging material revealed no loose surface contamination. The contamination is confined to the inside of the magazine. The staff believes there are two potential scenarios to explain the contamination inside the magazine: (1) the seeds had external contamination when placed inside the magazine, or (2) during the autoclave a weak weld failed and the seed began to leak. If a seed is leaking iodine into the patient, then if left untreated, the patient could potentially receive a dose of 50 Rem to the thyroid gland. A physician has prescribed a treatment to block uptake to the thyroid, and the blood and urine samples thus far are inconclusive in determining if iodine is leaking into the patient. I-125 seed activity is .302 millicuries per seed. The patient is aware of the issue. Thyroid scans and urine assays will continue for the next four weeks to determine if radioactive iodine is present in sufficient quantities to indicate a leaking seed.

* * * RETRACTION PROVIDED BY DEAN TAYLOR TO JASON KOZAL 0N 03/26/09 AT 1125 * * *

The licensee's theory is that the seed in question had a bad weld that was not realized until the seed was exposed to the heat sterilization process. This is due to the fact that there was no contamination present prior to the sterilization process.

The licensee completed multiple thyroid scans and blood work on the patient with negative results. Additionally, the licensee performed multiple urine assays with negative results. The patient will continue with potassium iodine treatment for the next 2 years to minimize thyroid uptake. Based on this information the licensee is retracting this event.

Notified the R3DO (Peterson) and FSME (McIntosh).