Event Notification Report for December 24, 2018

SPILL OF TC-99M VIAL IN HOT LAB

"[At 0930 MST on 12/24/18, a] Technologist went to screw the bottom of the pig on and had difficulty getting the bottom screwed on. The vial [containing approximately 272 mCi of Tc-99m] then slipped from the pig and the technologist's hands and dropped to the floor and broke. The technologist was wearing [Personal Protective Equipment] PPE in the form of gloves. Her shoes, clothing were removed and placed in a sealed bag to decay in the hot waste area. Initial reading from the sealed bag was 0.8 mR/hr. PPE was worn and the spill was covered with absorbent material. To prevent the spread of contamination movement of staff was limited. A witness was not contaminated during the incident as she was more than 10 feet from the hot lab and her personal survey results were 0.05 mR/hr which is equivalent to the background of the room. The contaminated personnel's skin readings post decon were 0.1 mR/hr at skin level on her leg.

"The spill was sprayed with Radiacwash and the contaminated absorbent material was placed in a sealed bag, labeled with date and radioactivity and placed in the hot waste storage area to decay. The spill was contained within the nuclear medicine hot lab, a sign was posted to close the room and secure the area to prevent entry. Final survey and wipe tests were completed on 12/26/2018 at 1100 [MST].

"The [Radiation Safety Officer] RSO was notified on 12/24/2018 at 0952 [MST]. The RSO talked to the Avera St. Luke's Director of Nuclear Medicine to ensure we are following the correct protocol. The RSO was notified on 12/26/2018 of the final survey and final wipe tests performed, and permission was given to return to work in the area."

AGREEMENT STATE REPORT - LOST THEN FOUND STATIC ELIMINATOR

The following report was received from the State of Minnesota by email:

"The licensee uses a static eliminator on the end of an air line. Typically the static eliminator is kept on the line and not removed. The licensee recently moved locations and not all of their stations were set up, so they were moving the static eliminator around. The static eliminator was removed from a line and placed on top of a box. It slid off the box and ended up under a nearby pallet. They noticed the static eliminator was missing on 12/24/2018. The pallet was moved and the static eliminator was found on 1/11/2019. All of the stations are now set up and the static eliminator will stay connected to a dedicated line.

"Material: Po-210, NRD model P-2021, 1.9 mCi on 1/10/19

"State event report: MN190001"

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