The State of
Massachusetts was notified of a missing shipment of approximately 185 millicuries of Thallium-201. The shipment originated at the licensee, Bristol Meyers Squibb, on December 8, 2007. The shipment had not arrived at its destination, Pharmaceutical and Diagnostic Services, Inc., as of December 17, 2007. Shipment tracking has determined that the package was scanned by FedEx in Boston on December 9, 2007, and no other scans had been recorded. The licensee is working with the shipper to locate the package. The State will provide more information to NRC as it becomes available. As of December 17, 2007 the package activity is approximately 24 millicuries.
- * * UPDATE FROM SUMARES TO HUFFMAN AT 1410 EST ON 12/20/07 * * *
Bristol Meyers Squibb has informed the State of Massachusetts that the missing Thallium shipment has been located at its own facility as of December 18, 2007. The shipment was apparently inadvertently routed to a Fed Ex facility in Colorado on December 11, 2007. Fed Ex assigned a new tracking number and returned the shipment to Bristol Meyers Squibb. Because the shipment was assigned a new tracking number, it was not immediately recognized that the material had been returned to the shipment originator. The shipment is undamaged and all material has been accounted for.
R1DO (Henderson) and FSME (Burgess) have been notified. ILTAB notified via e-mail
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