EN Revision Imported Date : 12/20/2019
EN Revision Text: AGREEMENT STATE REPORT - LOST TRITIUM EXIT SIGN
This is a summary of information received from the state of Nebraska via a phone call:
On November 20, 2019, the state of Nebraska identified a lost tritium exit sign during their quarterly reports. The general licensee indicated that they improperly disposed of the exit sign by donating it to a second-hand store on May 15, 2019. The exit sign has not been located at this time. The second-hand store turns over their inventory every six months, so it is believed that the exit sign has been sold or disposed of.
The tritium exit sign is a Betalux model BX-20-BK (S/N: C167432) with an activity of 17.51 Ci.
No further investigation is planned at this time and Nebraska has closed the event.
Nebraska incident number: NE190005
* * * UPDATE ON 12/19/2019 AT 1217 EST FROM DEB WILSON TO BRIAN LIN * * *
The following was received from the state of Nebraska via email:
"On 11/20/2019, Dr. Michael Meyer, M.D. left a message reporting the loss of an exit sign that contained 17.51 Curies of Tritium, indicating he had donated the sign to Goodwill at 156th Street and Maple Road in Omaha approximately May 15, 2019. On 11/21/2019, the department [Nebraska Division of Public Health] spoke with the manager of the donation site who was unable to locate the sign. On 11/22/2019 the department spoke with Dr. Meyer again to see if he had obtained a receipt for his donation as he could not remember the exact date it was disposed of. He claimed it was put in a box with some clothes and taken to the drop-off site. Dr. Meyer did not obtain a receipt and Goodwill does not keep copies of donation receipts. The department then spoke with Goodwill's Director of Operations on 11/25/2019. The Director stated that all donations are processed within 24 hours of receipt and Goodwill does not have inventory tracking detailed enough to be able to tell if/when it was sold. Inventory is turned over every six months and after the six month period unsold items are taken to the landfill. There will be no further follow-up."
Notified R4DO (Josey) and NMSS Events (email).
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 |