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Event Notification Report for November 23, 2011

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Operations Center

EVENT REPORTS FOR
11/22/2011 - 11/23/2011

EVENT NUMBERS
47474

Agreement State
Event Number: 47474
Rep Org: WISCONSIN RADIATION PROTECTION
Licensee: UW-MADISON
Region: 3
City: MADISON   State: WI
County:
License #: 025-1323-01
Agreement: Y
Docket:
NRC Notified By: EMILY EGGERS
HQ OPS Officer: CHARLES TEAL
Notification Date: 11/23/2011
Notification Time: 16:53 [ET]
Event Date: 11/23/2011
Event Time: 00:00 [CST]
Last Update Date: 11/23/2011
Emergency Class: NON EMERGENCY
10 CFR Section:
Person (Organization):
JULIO LARA (R3DO)
JIM LUEHMAN (FSME)
ILTAB VIA EMAIL
Event Text
AGREEMENT STATE REPORT - LOST OR MISSING IODINE-125 PLAQUE SEED

"On November 23, 2011, during a physical inventory of iodine-125 seeds to be returned to the vendor, it was determined that one (1) iodine-125 eye plaque seed was missing. The patient and room surveys were conducted at the time of the eye plaque procedure (late May) to verify no seed had been left in the patient or the room, and that all sources were returned from the procedure to the source storage room. The manufacturer's assay was 2.94 mCi per seed on May 20, 2011. The assay at the time of the procedure was within 3% of the manufacturer's assay. All attempts to identify the time, location, or the passage of disposal did not produce a definite result.

"The Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) followed up with the licensee by phone and will conduct an investigation the first week of December."

Event Report No.: WI110020

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. For additional information go to http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/Pub1227_web.pdf

This source is not amongst those sources or devices identified by the IAEA Code of Conduct for the Safety & Security of Radioactive Sources to be of concern from a radiological standpoint. Therefore is it being categorized as a less than Category 3 source