On January 30, 2008, the
RHB South ICE office received information regarding a broken
exit sign containing approximately 11 Ci of
H-3 (as of 2006). The sign was broken in a dormitory room at Biola University in La Mirada,
California (later discovered to have occurred around December 13, 2007). This is a generally licensed device. This incident was investigated and handled under the 011308 Investigation by this office. On February 13, 2008 we were notified of a second
H-3 exit sign that had been found broken (3 tubes of approximately 1 Ci each) on February 8, 2008. This broken
H-3 sign was found during the inventory process of
H-3 signs possessed by Biola requested by this office. Biola had never registered these GL devices to the State. During the inventory process Biola discovered that several of these
H-3 exit signs were missing. For several weeks Biola searched dormitory rooms and other campus locations in performing the inventory of these devices. On February 27, 2008, I received an email from [a lady] stating that of they could only account for 79 of the 83 signs originally received for installation in Horton Hall, meaning that they do not know the location of four of the signs (77 physically present and 2 disposed account for the 79). The total remaining
H-3 activity of the four signs is approximately 44 Curies.
Biola will register the remaining signs with the State, and send a copy to this office.
CA Number: 022708
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