Event Notification Report for April 25, 2023

AGREEMENT STATE REPORT - SHIPMENT DELAYED AND SOURCES HELD AT INTERIM LOCATION

The following information was provided by the California Radiation Control Program via email:

"Industrial Nuclear Company (INC) [located in California] shipped three nominal 103 Curie Ir-192 radiography sources to Miami for export to a customer in Venezuela on 9/27/22. The sources did not reach the Venezuelan customer. The sources were reported missing by INC on 4/10/23 [the sources were never 'lost' as their whereabouts were known to be in custody]. The sources have been recovered from a common carrier warehouse in the Miami area by the Florida Radiation Control Bureau and Florida law enforcement on 4/14/23.

The following additional information was obtained from the licensee in accordance with Headquarters Operations Officers Report Guidance:

A previous notification of this matter was made to the Headquarters Operations Officer (HOO) by the Florida Radiation Control Program on 4/10/23. On 4/10/2023 at 1300 EDT, the HOO also received a phone call from INC regarding a potentially abandoned radioactive source that was originally intended to be shipped to Venezuela but was in possession of the common carrier in Doral, FL. The state of Florida provided preliminary information on the incident and will provide additional information as it becomes available.

THIS MATERIAL EVENT CONTAINS A 'Category 2' LEVEL OF RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL

Category 2 sources, if not safely managed or securely protected, could cause permanent injury to a person who handled them, or were otherwise in contact with them, for a short time (minutes to hours). It could possibly be fatal to be close to this amount of unshielded radioactive material for a period of hours to days. These sources are typically used in practices such as industrial gamma radiography, high dose rate brachytherapy and medium dose rate brachytherapy. For additional information go to http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/Pub1227_web.pdf

NON AGREEMENT STATE REPORT - STUCK SOURCE RETRIEVED

The following summary was provided by the licensee via phone and email:

At approximately 2100 CDT on 04/16/23, the radiography crew began to setup a radiograph using a SPEC-150 camera on the East Cellar Mezzanine deck on an offshore oil rig near the state of Louisiana. The radiograph began at approximately 2120 CDT. After a 3 minute exposure, the crew attempted to retrieve the source back to its shielded position in the camera. During this time, the crew noticed that the camera's source lock/plunger was not engaging. After several attempts to expose and retract the source with hopes of a proper lock engagement, the crew determined that the source was unable to return to the shielded position. The crew expanded the 2 mR/hr boundaries on all affected areas and decks with a survey meter in hand. After unsuccessful attempts to retrieve the source, the technician was finally able to fully unscrew the crank hex out of the handle. Once the inside wire was exposed, the technician manually pulled the wire and was able to get the source back into its fully shielded and locked position. No crew members were injured, and there were no overexposures during this incident.

AGREEMENT STATE REPORT - GENERATOR LOST IN SHIPMENT THEN FOUND

The following synopsis of information was provided by the Massachusetts Radiation Control Program (the Agency) via email:

At 1900 EDT on April 17, 2023, Lantheus Medical Imaging, Inc. (the Licensee) reported that at 1500 EDT on that day it had discovered a package containing a 15 Curie Mo-99/Tc-99m generator was not delivered to RLS in Van Nuys, CA (the intended recipient).

On April 18 at 1200 EDT, the Licensee learned that the package was still in the delivery truck in California. The driver had two deliveries to make on April 17, 2023, but only made one of the deliveries, leaving the package containing the generator in his vehicle overnight. Once the package was found, it was delivered to its intended recipient.

The reporting requirement is immediate per 105 CMR 120.281(A)(1), missing licensed radioactive materials in aggregate quantity equal to or greater than 1,000 times quantity specified in 105 CMR 120.297, Appendix C.

MA Number.: TBD

The Agency considers this event to be open.

THIS MATERIAL EVENT CONTAINS A 'Category 3' LEVEL OF RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL

Category 3 sources, if not safely managed or securely protected, could cause permanent injury to a person who handled them, or were otherwise in contact with them, for some hours. It could possibly - although it is unlikely - be fatal to be close to this amount of unshielded radioactive material for a period of days to weeks. These sources are typically used in practices such as fixed industrial gauges involving high activity sources (for example: level gauges, dredger gauges, conveyor gauges and spinning pipe gauges) and well logging. For additional information go to http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/Pub1227_web.pdf