Event Notification Report for September 12, 2023

AGREEMENT STATE REPORT - MISSING PACKAGES

The following information was provided by the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (the Agency) email:

"The Agency was notified after hours on September 1, 2023, by G.E. Healthcare in Arlington Heights, IL (RML IL-01109-01) to advise of three radiopharmaceutical packages missing in transit. This is in addition to the four previously reported missing shipments [See EN56682, EN56697, and EN56701]. All three were shipped on August 24, 2023, and marked as 'missing' by the common carrier on September 1, 2023. The last known location was the [common carrier] Indianapolis transfer hub on August 24, 2023. Indiana contacted the Illinois Emergency Management Agency and Office of Homeland Security (IEMA-OHS) and reported at least two of these packages were located in an Indiana landfill and were recovered by their responders. [One of the two packages recovered from the landfill is for a previous event, See EN56701]. This investigation is ongoing.

"The radiopharmaceutical packages were offered for shipment on August 24, 2023, for delivery to three customers (Nuclear Medicine Associates in Redding, CA; Cardinal Health in Southfield, MI; and RLS USA INC - New Orleans in Harahan, LA). The Nuclear Medicine Associates package contained three 14.3 mCi vials of I-123; the Cardinal Health package contained one 4.1 mCi vial of In-111 and the RLS package contained one 4.1 mCi vial of In-111. Activities are those at time of shipment. Information available at this time indicates the Nuclear Medicine Associates package and at least one other package containing In-111 [see EN56701] were located at a landfill by State of Indiana officials."

NMED report number: IL230023

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

AGREEMENT STATE REPORT - MISSING SOURCES

The following report was received via email from the Georgia Radioactive Material Program [the Department]:

"On Thursday, August 31, 2023, the radiation safety officer (RSO) reported two missing solution standard sources of Am-241, 1.0 microcurie each (37 kBq each) to the Department. These two sources were lost during transportation to Nuclear Fuel Services located in Erwin, Tennessee on June 2, 2023. The customer, Nuclear Fuel Services, notified the licensee that they did not receive the shipment package. The RSO contacted the common carrier to trace its whereabouts. On June 26, 2023, the common carrier's records show that the shipment was signed for by an individual at Nuclear Fuel Services. However, Nuclear Fuel Services confirmed that they did not receive this shipment. There is a communication discrepancy between the common carrier and Nuclear Fuel Services. Currently, the licensee is waiting for a detailed response from the customer regarding this shipment."

Georgia Incident Report Number: 69

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

AGREEMENT STATE REPORT - DAMAGED GAUGE

The following is a summary from a report received via email from the Washington State Department of Health:

A Troxler 3440 portable gauge (two sealed sources containing 9 mCi of Cs-137 and 44mCi of Am/Be-241) was run over by a bulldozer at a construction site. The full report with corrective actions has yet to be issued. No significant releases of radioactivity occurred.

Washington Incident Number: WA-23-015