ENS 43489
ENS Event | |
|---|---|
08:10 Jul 6, 2007 | |
| Title | Vehicle Accident During Transport of Radiopharmaceutical Sources |
| Event Description | On Friday, July 6, 2007, at approximately 4:10 am, an accident involving a vehicle transporting radiopharmaceuticals occurred on Route 3 North near Exit 32 in Chelmsford, Massachusetts. The Radiation Control Program (RCP) was informed about the accident via the State Police at approximately 5:15 am. The first responder from the RCP arrived at the scene of the accident at about 6:15 am.
A vehicle carrying patient radiopharmaceutical doses had rolled over on Route 3 North beyond Exit 32, emptying 18 Type A transport containers onto the highway and over an embankment. A brook tributary to a lake is at the bottom of the embankment where the accident occurred. Six of the containers had dropped into brook. The rest were strewn about the highway and the embankment. The containers were carrying radiopharmaceuticals in the form of Tc-99m bulk and patient doses, F-18 in the form of FDG for PET imaging, and I-131 for patient therapy. The Tc-99m was transported in an internally shielded Type A nylon covered container and the I-131 and F-18 were transported in Type A shielded ammo boxes. In all, 17 of the 18 containers were recovered. None of the containers recovered had any external contamination. One ammo box had a torn off lid, but the tungsten syringe shield containing a dose of F-18 was not breached. The 18th ammo box container with 2 F-18 doses totaling 271.21 mCi was not recovered. However, the F-18 had decayed approximately 7 half-lives by 4:00 pm, so there was no radiological consequence. Since this box had fallen onto the bottom of the brook and, due to the fact that no other container was breached, it was concluded that the two tungsten syringe shields would not have been breached. There was no release of radioactive material in this event. There was not breach of any internal container housing the radioactive material. This event is considered closed. There were no radiological consequences to members of the public and emergency workers. Attempts to recover the last container included using divers and metal detectors. THIS MATERIAL EVENT CONTAINS A "LESS THAN CAT 3" LEVEL OF RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL 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. This source is not amongst those sources or devices identified by the IAEA Code of Conduct for the Safety & Security of Radioactive Sources to be of concern from a radiological standpoint. Therefore is it being categorized as a less than Category 3 source. |
| Where | |
|---|---|
| Cardinal Health Pharmacy Services Woburn, Massachusetts (NRC Region 1) | |
| License number: | 41-0366 |
| Organization: | Ma Radiation Control Program |
| Reporting | |
| Agreement State | |
| Time - Person (Reporting Time:+173.82 h7.243 days <br />1.035 weeks <br />0.238 months <br />) | |
| Opened: | Kanath Traegde 13:59 Jul 13, 2007 |
| NRC Officer: | Mark Abramovitz |
| Last Updated: | Jul 13, 2007 |
| 43489 - NRC Website | |
Cardinal Health Pharmacy Services with Agreement State | |
WEEKMONTHYEARENS 434892007-07-06T08:10:0006 July 2007 08:10:00
[Table view]Agreement State Vehicle Accident During Transport of Radiopharmaceutical Sources 2007-07-06T08:10:00 | |