A self-revealing non-cited violation of
10 CFR 20.1802, Control of Material not in Storage, was identified for the licensees failure to maintain control and constant surveillance of licensed radioactive material in a controlled or unrestricted area (Health Physics (
HP) technical services area of the administration building) that was not in storage. The material that was initially unaccounted for was an
Americium-241 check source with an activity of 0.02 micro-Curies, used to perform routine function checks on iSolo alpha/beta counter. The issued was documented in the licensees corrective action program (
CAP) as condition report (CR) 523692. The licensees failure to control and maintain constant surveillance of licensed material that is in a controlled or unrestricted area and that is not in storage was a performance deficiency (
PD). The
PD was more than minor because it was associated with the Program and Process attribute of the
Public Radiation Safety Cornerstone and affected the cornerstone objective of ensuring adequate protection of public health and safety from exposure to radioactive materials released into the public domain. Using Manual Chapter 0609, Appendix D,
Public Radiation Safety SDP, this finding determined to be was of very low safety significance (Green) in that the public radiation exposure was not greater than 0.005
rem (5 millirem). The inspectors determined that cross-cutting issue
H.4(b), The licensee defines and effectively communicates expectations regarding procedural compliance and personnel follow procedures, was applicable for this violation because the radiation protection (
RP) technician had failed to follow procedure HP-1033.148, Canberra iSolo: Performance Checks, step 6.4.3 which states: Ensure check source is removed from Canberra iSolo and returned to designated storage location.
