AGREEMENT STATE REPORT - LOST STATIC CONTROL DEVICE
The following was received from the State of Texas via email:
"On March 31, 2020, the Texas Department of State Health Services (Agency) received a letter that had been originally sent to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, received March 3, 2020, which was forwarded via email. The letter was reporting a lost static control device: NRD Neutralizer model P-2021-Z705, SN: A2LP525, containing 10 milliCuries of polonium-210. This is a general license device. It was last used on February 20, 2020, and then replaced. On February 25, 2020, [employees at Gemini Sign Products] realized the box containing the device (to be shipped back to manufacturer) was missing. It was determined that on February 24, 2020, the device and its associated paperwork, which was in a box in an office awaiting paperwork completion/packing for transit back to the manufacturer, was mistaken by a custodian for waste, and it was thrown away in an outdoor dumpster. The dumpster was searched, but the waste had already been picked up and they learned from the waste company that the contents of that load were already at the landfill and buried. The report included the company's corrective actions: reminders to staff about the equipment and the regulations associated with it and new policy and procedure for changing out the devices in the future. An investigation into this event is ongoing. More information will be provided as it is obtained in accordance with SA-300."
Texas Incident Number: I-9757
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 |