EN Revision Imported Date : 8/29/2019
EN Revision Text: AGREEMENT STATE REPORT - CESIUM-137 SOURCE INVOLVED IN VEHICLE FIRE
The following information was received via E-mail:
"This report is sent for informational purposes. On August 17, 2019, the Agency [Texas Department of State Health Services] received a call from the answering service and was informed that a licensee had reported a fire during transport of a density gauge. The Agency called the licensee, Halliburton Energy Services and was informed of the event. The licensee stated one of their blending trucks had been traveling on highway 285 south near Orla, Texas when the driver saw sparks coming from the road behind their truck. The driver pulled over and when they went to the back of the truck they found a tire had blown out and was now burning.
"The driver called for help, but by the time the fire department arrived, the truck was fully involved in the fire. The truck was transporting a 100 milliCurie cesium-137 source installed on a pipe. The licensee stated the dose rate at 30 centimeters from the gauge, taken after the fire was extinguished, was 2 millirem per hour, which is normal. The licensee stated the truck and trailer were taken to their facility and a leak test was taken on the gauge. The licensee stated the driver had pulled off the road and traffic was not restricted. Additional information will be provided as it is received in accordance with SA-300."
Texas Incident #: I-9703
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
* * * UPDATE FROM ART TUCKER TO DONALD NORWOOD AT 1013 EDT ON 8/19/2019 * * *
The following information was received via E-mail:
"The Agency received a call from the licensee at 0856 CDT on August 19, 2019. The licensee stated they had conducted additional surveys this morning and found dose rates were as high as five millirem per hour at one meter from the gauge. The licensee contacted their manufacturing section and one of the individuals was familiar with this type of event stated the gauge shielding was probably compromised, but believed the source was undamaged. The licensee stated the gauge would be returned to its manufacturing facility for inspection. No exposure has occurred from this event. Additional information will be provided as it is received in accordance with SA-300."
Notified R4DO (Young) and the NMSS Events Notification E-mail group.
* * * UPDATE FROM ART TUCKER TO RICHARD SMITH AT 1743 EDT ON 8/28/2019 * * *
"On August 28, 2019, the licensee notified the Agency that the results of the leak test performed on the source involved in this event had come back reading 0 dpm. Additional information will be provided as it is received in accordance with SA-300."
Notified R4DO (Azua) and the NMSS Event Notification E-mail group. |