ENS 44052
ENS Event | |
|---|---|
05:00 Mar 10, 2008 | |
| Title | Nebraska Agreement State Report - Potential Overexposure |
| Event Description | The State of Nebraska Department of Health & Human Services, Radiation Control Program, Radioactive Materials Branch reported that a radiographer employed by Team Industrial Services, Inc. was potentially overexposed while performing radiography at a Nebraska City, NE facility. Team Industrial Services, Inc. is performing work in Nebraska under reciprocity of their Illinois license.
On March 7, 2008, while at the job site, the radiographer noticed that his direct-reading pocket dosimeter was off-scale. He reported this to the regional Team Industrial Services RSO and stated that he believed he just bumped the dosimeter to cause the off-scale condition. The RSO directed him to send his TLD to Landauer Laboratories for processing. On March 10, 2008, Landauer informed the RSO that the TLD indicated that the radiographer received 7.753 REM Deep Dose Equivalent. The Team Industrial RSO notified his corporate RSO, who then notified the State of Nebraska. The radiographer has been restricted from radiation areas while Team Industrial and the State of Nebraska investigates this incident.
On March 11, 2008, the Corporate RSO for Team Industrial Services, Inc. called to report that one of their industrial radiographers had received an exposure of 7.753 rems to their dosimetry badge while conducting radiographic operations, under reciprocity, at a construction site in Nebraska City, NE. The dates that the radiographer had performed radiography were the evening of March 4, 2008 and the early morning of March 5, 2008. At the time the radiographer noted that his pencil dosimeter had gone off-scale. He did not notify the FRSO in the licensee's Illinois office until March 7, 2008 at which time his dosimetry badge was sent off to Landauer for emergency processing. Landauer verbally reported the findings to Team Industrial on March 10, 2008. During the subsequent investigation of the incident, the radiographer admitted that he had performed radiography alone at the temporary jobsite alone. Four possible scenarios were developed during the investigation. First, he had received the exposure because the confined space in which the exposures were made caused the radiographer and assistant to be in a 200-300 Mr/hr field. This was discounted because the assistant only had 30 mrem on her pencil dosimeter and badge readings were 137 mrem for February and 4 mrem for March (both sent in for emergency processing). The second scenario involved the statement by the radiographer that he had dropped his dosimetry badge near the camera and guide tube and that he may have "bumped" his pencil dosimeter. Calculations could not substantiate the exposure to the badge. In addition, it was too coincidental that both the dropped badge and "bumped" pencil dosimeter happened at the same time. The third scenario was that this was an intentional exposure of the badge. Intensive questioning by the State of Nebraska inspectors and Team management could not substantiate this scenario. The last and most probable scenario was that the radiographer did not fully retract the source following a radiography shot and failed to properly conduct a complete survey around the camera and guide tube before repositioning the guide tube for the next radiography shot. There is no evidence to discount any of the above scenarios so the investigation is considered to be inconclusive. A complete investigation report is in process. Violations have been identified and will be included in the final report with the response from the licensee. Notified R4DO(Deese) and FSME(Kock) |
| Where | |
|---|---|
| Team Industrial Services, Inc. Nebraska City, Nebraska (NRC Region 4) | |
| License number: | IL-011396-01 |
| Organization: | Ne Div Of Radioactive Materials |
| Reporting | |
| Agreement State | |
| Time - Person (Reporting Time:+33.35 h1.39 days <br />0.199 weeks <br />0.0457 months <br />) | |
| Opened: | Howard Shuman 14:21 Mar 11, 2008 |
| NRC Officer: | Howie Crouch |
| Last Updated: | Apr 11, 2008 |
| 44052 - NRC Website | |
Team Industrial Services, Inc. with Agreement State | |
WEEKMONTHYEARENS 507612015-01-24T06:00:00024 January 2015 06:00:00
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