Event Notification Report for December 03, 2007

OFFSITE NOTIFICATION DUE TO INADVERTENT SIREN ACTUATION

"At approximately 1145 CST, on December 3, 2007, the Dakota County Sheriff's office inadvertently activated the Dakota County sirens during the conduct of a silent siren test. The licensee was notified of the siren activation by the siren contractor for the county. Seven of the 117 sirens in the 10-mile Emergency Planning Zone (EPZ) were activated for approximately one to one and one-half minutes. No press release is planned by Xcel Energy or the Dakota County Sheriff's office. The NRC Senior Resident Inspector was notified."

FITNESS FOR DUTY - POSITIVE TEST FOR ALCOHOL DURING RANDOM EXAMINATION

A non-licensed supervisor in the corporate office had a confirmed positive test for alcohol during a random examination. The employee's access to the plant has been restricted. Contact the Headquarters Operations Officer for additional details.

AGREEMENT STATE REPORT - LOST RADIOGRAPHY CAMERA

The licensee's radiography team left the temporary jobsite with their SPEC 150 radiography camera on the tailgate. The camera contained a 24 Curie Ir-192 source. The licensee drove approximately 15 miles down the road prior to remembering the gauge was on the tailgate. It was then noticed that the camera was no longer in the truck. The licensee team is retracing their route in search of the camera and will be contacting the Tarrant County Sheriff's Department to aid in the search. The licensee is not sure if the camera had been secured properly prior to driving down the highway. The route taken was from Tinsley Lane to North Business 287 in Saginaw, TX towards Justin, TX in Tarrant County.

Notified NORTHCOM and Mexico via email.

Texas Report TX-07-43822

*** UPDATE FROM TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH (JISHA) TO HOWIE CROUCH AT 0743 ON 12/04/07 ***

The SPEC 150 radiography camera was recovered at 0633 CST. A member of the public found the camera and placed it in the back of his private vehicle. Upon hearing about the lost source on the local news this morning, the citizen turned the camera over to the Fort Worth Fire Department. The camera appears intact and undamaged. Texas Department of Health is responding to the fire department to conduct a survey and inspection of the camera. No overexposures are expected.

Notified DHS (Haselton), DOE (Parsons), FEMA (Burckart), USDA (Watts), HHS (Garcia), EPA (Johnson), Mexico (via email), NORTHCOM (via email), R4DO (Hay), FSME EO (Burgess) and ILTAB (Sandler).

THIS MATERIAL EVENT CONTAINS A "CATEGORY 2" LEVEL OF RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL

Category 2 sources, if not safely managed or securely protected, could cause permanent injury to a person who handled them, or were otherwise in contact with them, for a short time (minutes to hours). It could possibly be fatal to be close to this amount of unshielded radioactive material for a period of hours to days. These sources are typically used in practices such as industrial gamma radiography, high dose rate brachytherapy and medium dose rate brachytherapy.

ACCIDENT MITIGATION - CREFS INOPERABLE

"On 03 DEC 07 at 2051, following a review of notification CR-CNS-2007-08237 [written for a degraded condition on the field wiring on the motor for HV-FAN-BF-C-1B - the control room HVAC exhaust booster fan, and a physical inspection of the motor itself], it was determined that reasonable assurance that CREFS would fulfill its safety function could not be established.

"The CREFS system was inoperable at the time for the purpose of planned maintenance and the condition was discovered during the performance of that planned maintenance.

"HV-FAN-BF-C-1B is normally in operation at all times and was operating prior to being secured for the planned CREFS maintenance window.

"This fan is a required support feature for the control room emergency filtration system (CREFS) at CNS. This is a single train system and per 10CFR50.72(b)(3)(v)(D) an 8 hour report is required due to the fact that at the time of discovery this condition could have prevented the fulfillment of the safety function of an SSC that is required to mitigate the consequences of an accident."

The licensee is in a 7 day shutdown LCO 3.7.4 Condition A.

The licensee notified the NRC Resident Inspector.

AGREEMENT STATE - LEAKING CESIUM-131 SOURCE

The State provided the following information via email:

"At approximately 2:30 PM on December 3, 2007 the Agency was notified that a Cesium 131 seed was found to be leaking. The source was an IsoRay Medical, Inc., Model CS-1, 3.12 milliCuries. The seed became jammed in the Mick applicator cartridge. The patient bed, the OR [Operating Room], and trash all surveyed clean. Upon opening the cartridge, contamination was discovered. One person received some contamination of their hands which was removed within 15 minutes. The licensee estimates the exposure to the hands of that individual as less than 50 rems.

"The source has been secured for decay and ultimate disposal. The Agency [Arizona Radiation Regulatory Agency] continues to investigate this event. The U.S. NRC is being notified of this event."

ARIZONA AGREEMENT STATE REPORT - LEAKING SEALED SOURCE

"A leaking sealed source discovered on Monday, December 3rd 2007, at the Scottsdale Radiation Oncology Center in our hot lab.

"This seed is listed as a sealed source containing Cs-131, from the company IsoRay Medical, Inc. The activity contained inside this seed was 3.12 mCi [milli-Curies] of Cs-131. The incident occurred following a patient prostate implant. This seed had become jammed in a Mick Applicator cartridge. After the patient procedure in the hospital had finished, surveys of linen, OR [Operating Room], patient bed, and trash showed readings of background with the GM [Geiger-Mueller] survey meter. The seed, still in the cartridge, was packaged inside the container it had originally arrived in and shipped to the [Scottsdale Radiation Oncology Center].

"Upon its arrival in Scottsdale, the package was surveyed externally with a wipe test which showed no contamination on the external package. It was at [Scottsdale Radiation Oncology Center] that we ascertained that the seed had leaked into its internal container and contaminated the Mick cartridge it resided in. Our personnel that regularly loads seeds was removing it with bare hands since the outside container had been surveyed and showed no contamination. The seed was dislodged into a lead container behind a leaded shield, and the cartridge was surveyed by a GM tube. Since the GM tube responded, our personnel then placed the cartridge into a lead container and then surveyed her fingers. Upon realizing she was contaminated she informed the ARSO [Assistant Radiation Safety Officer]. She was directed to wash with soap and water. After about 15 minutes her hands showed no residual contamination with a GM and pancake probe with open face. The seeds were then placed into a capped glass container and into a marked leaded container. The original shipping box was surveyed, and the decision was to bag the entire box, and store in locked cabinet for 70 days (10 half lives). A survey will be performed to prove that the container is background before it is put back into service.

"All areas and personnel were surveyed with the GM and pancake probe open faced, to confirm no residual contamination. The area and personnel were clean and further wipe tests showed only background.

"The physician was informed of incident as well as ARRA [Arizona Radiation Regulatory Agency], and IsoRay's health physicist. A calculation showed that the 15 minutes of exposure to the personnel extremities did not exceed the regulation AAC R12-1-445 of 50 rads that is reportable.

"As a corrective action, personnel will now wear rubber gloves until all cartridges are examined following the return of any seeds."