The licensee's
RSO reports that a Sentinel Model 880 delta radiography camera containing a 31 curie
Iridium-192 source is missing in transit. The camera was shipped with two other radiography cameras from Anchorage
Alaska on April 24, 2007. The cameras were being sent to
QSA Global in Baton Rouge,
Louisiana for source replacement. Two of the cameras arrived at
QSA Global as scheduled on April 26, 2007. However, the third camera has not yet arrived as of the time of this report. The shipper is Federal Express. Each camera was assigned a separate FedEx tracking number but all three cameras were shipped at the same time. The
RSO is attempting to track the package but has not yet received priority attention. The FedEx tracking system still shows the package in transit at Oakland CA. The
RSO was not notified of the missing shipment by
QSA Global until approximately 1400
CDT on 4/30/07.
- * * UPDATE FROM GRAY TO HUFFMAN AT 1814 EDT ON 4/30/07 * * *
The licensee reports that after a high priority trace by FedEx, the package was confirmed to still be in Oakland CA. FedEx stated that the camera will be sent onto Baton Rouge tonight. The licensee no longer considers the shipment missing. R4DO (O'Keefe), FSME (Morell), IRD(Cruz), and ILTAB (Sandler) notified. Applicable Federal Agencies have also been made.
THIS MATERIAL EVENT CONTAINS A "CATEGORY 2" LEVEL OF RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL
Category 2 sources, if not safely managed or securely protected, could cause permanent injury to a person who handled them, or were otherwise in contact with them, for a short time (minutes to hours). It could possibly be fatal to be close to this amount of unshielded radioactive material for a period of hours to days. These sources are typically used in practices such as industrial gamma radiography, high dose rate
brachytherapy and medium dose rate
brachytherapy.