The State provided the following information via email:
On Tuesday, June 28, 2005, I received a call from Waste Management of Orange that the radiation alarm had sounded. They separated the radioactive waste from the other waste and placed the radioactive waste in their secure holding area until I could arrive. Around 11:30 a.m. I went out to the facility and took surveys and tried to identify the radionuclide - my batteries on the MCA were running low, but based on the peaks I thought it could be either Ga-67 or Ir-192. The load had been picked up from Chapman Hospital so I contacted them and brought the waste back to the hospital where the RSO was going to do a positive identification. This morning I stopped at the hospital and took some readings outside the waste storage area and did another identification scan using the Bicron Field spec. I contacted the Imaging Director [name deleted]. He said they did find an Ir-192 ribbon (which contained 6 seeds). They put this ribbon with the 19 other ribbons that were being returned to the manufacturer. A 48 year old female patient received 20 ribbons (each with 6 seeds) on 6-20-05. The total activity was 58.19 mCi (activity per ribbon with 6 seeds = 2.9 mCi). The Oncology Physician [name deleted], feels the ribbon could have been dislodged before she was discharged on 6-24-05. This ribbon could have been in the bedding under the patient for some period of time. He will do an evaluation to determine the effects of the ribbon being under the patient for a given time and the effects of a lower dose being administered. [The Imaging Director] states that the found ribbon was placed in with the other 19 ribbons that will be going back to the manufacturer. He has counted and accounted for the 20 ribbons that were originally sent and confirms all 20 are now accounted for. The facility will send me a report about this incident and will outline their corrective actions to avoid disposal of such ribbons in the future.
California Report No. 062805