Event Notification Report for December 01, 2017
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Operations Center
EVENT REPORTS FOR
11/30/2017 - 12/01/2017
EVENT NUMBERS
53144
Agreement State
Event Number: 53144
Rep Org: GEORGIA RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL PGM
Licensee: THERAGENICS CORPORATION
Region: 1
City: Buford State: GA
County:
License #:
Agreement: Y
Docket:
NRC Notified By: MONICA JOHNSON
HQ OPS Officer: ANDREW WAUGH
Licensee: THERAGENICS CORPORATION
Region: 1
City: Buford State: GA
County:
License #:
Agreement: Y
Docket:
NRC Notified By: MONICA JOHNSON
HQ OPS Officer: ANDREW WAUGH
Notification Date: 01/03/2018
Notification Time: 09:49 [ET]
Event Date: 12/01/2017
Event Time: 00:00 [EST]
Last Update Date: 01/03/2018
Notification Time: 09:49 [ET]
Event Date: 12/01/2017
Event Time: 00:00 [EST]
Last Update Date: 01/03/2018
Emergency Class: NON EMERGENCY
10 CFR Section:
10 CFR Section:
Person (Organization):
DAVE WERKHEISER (R1DO)
GRETCHEN RIVERA-CAPE (NMSS)
NMSS_EVENTS_NOTIFICA (EMAI)
DAVE WERKHEISER (R1DO)
GRETCHEN RIVERA-CAPE (NMSS)
NMSS_EVENTS_NOTIFICA (EMAI)
AGREEMENT STATE REPORT - OVEREXPOSURE EVENT
The following was excerpted from an email received from the state of Georgia:
"On Tuesday, January 2, 2018 it was reported to the Department [Georgia Radioactive Materials Program] by Theragenics Corporation in Buford, GA that an employee's dosimetry report indicated that he had exceeded the annual shallow dose limit of 50 rem. An investigation has been conducted by the employer and it was determined that two abnormal occurrences happened during this wear period:
"1. For approximately 2 hours the technician worked a non-routine job to clean and rebuild the central region of a cyclotron in order to return the cyclotron to operation. This was designated as a high radiation area and exposures of others that worked the same job had high exposures also but no one else exceeded the annual limits.
"2. On November 13, 2017 the cyclotron technician was having difficulty operating the manipulator arms and pneumatic screwdriver within a hot cell so without contacting HP [health physics] or cyclotron management he decided to remove 10 screws in the target rail of the hot cell by hand. He held target rails with his left hand and removed the screws with a screwdriver with his right hand. The projected activity on that day was 62.61 Ci and the job took 1 to 5 minutes.
"Theragenics was notified of the event on December 1, 2017. The report was sent to the department [Georgia Radioactive Materials Program] on December 28, 2017 and was received on January 2, 2018
"The skin exposure to the left extremity was reported as 71.865 rem for the biweekly monitoring period of November 6, 2017 to November 19, 2017."
The following was excerpted from an email received from the state of Georgia:
"On Tuesday, January 2, 2018 it was reported to the Department [Georgia Radioactive Materials Program] by Theragenics Corporation in Buford, GA that an employee's dosimetry report indicated that he had exceeded the annual shallow dose limit of 50 rem. An investigation has been conducted by the employer and it was determined that two abnormal occurrences happened during this wear period:
"1. For approximately 2 hours the technician worked a non-routine job to clean and rebuild the central region of a cyclotron in order to return the cyclotron to operation. This was designated as a high radiation area and exposures of others that worked the same job had high exposures also but no one else exceeded the annual limits.
"2. On November 13, 2017 the cyclotron technician was having difficulty operating the manipulator arms and pneumatic screwdriver within a hot cell so without contacting HP [health physics] or cyclotron management he decided to remove 10 screws in the target rail of the hot cell by hand. He held target rails with his left hand and removed the screws with a screwdriver with his right hand. The projected activity on that day was 62.61 Ci and the job took 1 to 5 minutes.
"Theragenics was notified of the event on December 1, 2017. The report was sent to the department [Georgia Radioactive Materials Program] on December 28, 2017 and was received on January 2, 2018
"The skin exposure to the left extremity was reported as 71.865 rem for the biweekly monitoring period of November 6, 2017 to November 19, 2017."