The State provided the following information via email:
On Tuesday, October 10, 2006, at 7:35 A.M., [DELETED] of Waste Management/ Orange Transfer Station, contacted RHB South about a transfer truck that set off their radiation alarm (208.9 kcpm, 4.6 kcpm background). The transfer station knew the waste had been picked up at Chapman Memorial Hospital, who was then contacted. The readings that were taken by [DELETED] were 5 millirem/hour at 1 ft., 1 millirem/hour at 3ft and 0.01 millirem/hour background. They were instructed not to sort or segregate the waste before RHB staff's arrival. At 11:20 A.M., RHB staff met [DELETED] and [DELETED] of Chapman Memorial Hospital at Waste Management to identify the waste. Prior to RHB staff arrival, [DELETED] had surveyed and searched through the waste and found a seed of Ir-192 and placed it inside a clear plastic box. According to [DELETED], he was wearing gloves at the time and had spent about 15 minutes searching for the seed (approximately within 2 feet of the source) and was in direct contact with the source with the thumb and forefinger for about 15 seconds. He then proceeded to place the seed back into the trash can that it was contained in. RHB staff surveyed and identified the waste as a 1.4 - 2.1 millicurie Ir-192 brachytherapy seed. A DOT Exemption (CA-CA-06-41) was issued to [DELETED] to transport the trash can back to Chapman Memorial Hospital and to make sure that the RSO is able to supervise the removal of the seed from the trash bag. The licensee will be evaluating the dose to [DELETED], and providing a full report in that regard.
California event number 101006
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.