ENS 43621
ENS Event | |
|---|---|
18:00 Sep 6, 2007 | |
| Title | Agreement State- North Carolina - Unauthorized Removal of Portable Nuclear Gauge |
| Event Description | The licensee provided the following information via email:
N.C. Radiation Protection Section was notified on 06 Sept. 2007 at 6:15 p.m. by the NC Emergency Operations EOC Warning Point of a call from the RSO for Bunnell-Lammons Engineering, Inc. (NC Radioactive Material License #011-1252-1). The RSO reported a missing employee in a white '02-'04 Chevy Silverado truck with 'BLE' logo on the doors. Secured in the truck's bed was one Model 3450 portable moisture density gauge (Serial No. 922). The gauge contained two sealed sources: (1) Cesium-137, approx.9 millicuries, and (2) Americium-241:Beryllium, approx. 44 millicuries. The BLE employee was caught sleeping at the job site (Biltmore Town Square in Asheville, NC) at around 2:00 p.m. on 06 Sept. 2007. When the supervisor returned to the site at 4:00pm the same day to check on the employee, the employee, truck, and gauge were missing. After RPS discussed the situation with the licensee, BLE contacted local law enforcement reporting a larceny of the truck and the radioactive material. A description of the employee and truck was given. The Radiation Protection Section is monitoring the event and will continue to update NRC and other contacts as appropriate. N.C. Radiation Protection has not received any media attention as of this report. No press release has been issued.
The State provided the following information via email: I [Lee Cox] received a call at 07:35 from BLE RSO [DELETED] that at 07:25 this morning the employee showed up at the job site like nothing ever happened. The gauge was taken in possession by company representatives at that time in which they indicated it was still secured in the locked case with the source handle lock still in place. The RSO indicated that the gauge would be taken out of use so that a leak test of the sources could be conducted and would not be put back into operation until the results are known. The company will contact all local law enforcement of the situation and will continue to investigate this incident. Disciplinary action of the employee (most likely resulting in termination) will occur swiftly this morning. Notified the R1DO (Jackson), FSME (Zelac) and ILTAB (Sandler). 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. |
| Where | |
|---|---|
| Bunnell-Lammons Engineering, Inc. Asheville, North Carolina (NRC Region 1) | |
| License number: | 011-1252-1 |
| Organization: | Nc Div Of Radiation Protection |
| Reporting | |
| Agreement State | |
| Time - Person (Reporting Time:+4.48 h0.187 days <br />0.0267 weeks <br />0.00614 months <br />) | |
| Opened: | Lee Cox 22:29 Sep 6, 2007 |
| NRC Officer: | Bill Huffman |
| Last Updated: | Sep 7, 2007 |
| 43621 - NRC Website | |
Bunnell-Lammons Engineering, Inc. with Agreement State | |
WEEKMONTHYEARENS 436212007-09-06T18:00:0006 September 2007 18:00:00
[Table view]Agreement State Agreement State- North Carolina - Unauthorized Removal of Portable Nuclear Gauge 2007-09-06T18:00:00 | |