A Green, self-revealing non-cited violation of
10 CFR 20.1801 was identified for the licensees failure to secure stored radioactive material from unauthorized removal. On August 14, 2007, a shipment of clean scrap metal from Browns Ferry alarmed the truck monitor at a vendor recycling facility. Using a hand-held survey instrument, the vendor identified the contaminated item to be a small (4 ounces) metal can containing pipe threading compound. Subsequently, upon arrival at the site, licensee personnel retrieved the item and performed radiation surveys as necessary. The finding was entered into the licensees corrective action program as Problem Evaluation Report 128870. This finding was more than minor because it was associated with the
Public Radiation Safety cornerstone attribute of program and process and it affected the associated cornerstone objective because the failure to secure stored radioactive material from removal did not ensure the adequate protection of public health and safety from exposure to radiation. The finding was evaluated using the
Public Radiation Safety Significance Determination Process and was determined to be of very low safety significance because the failure to secure radioactive material from removal was a finding in the radioactive material control program that did not result in a public exposure exceeding 5 mrem. The cause of this finding was related to the evaluation of identified problems cross-cutting aspect in the corrective action component of the Problem Identification and Resolution cross-cutting area because evaluations performed by the licensee subsequent to previous radioactive material control events had failed to thoroughly evaluate and identify the weaknesses in the radioactive material control program (
P.1(c))
