On August 12, 2008
UC Berkeley requested a meeting with
RHB to provide information regarding their findings that they had not maintained adequate control of their
SNM. Specifically they were unable to locate 17 grams of elemental
uranium enriched to 43% in the isotope of U 235. The reason for the problem was considered to be inadequate material accounting practices for the period since 1978, due to inadequate methodology, apparently records were not maintained for the day-to-day consumption of
uranium for research and subsequent discard of
uranium that occurred routinely. There were no records to indicate use. Therefore this material is considered as 'material unaccounted for' (MUF) and an ongoing investigation is in progress to determine the disposition of the material between 1994 and 1997. Seventeen grams would equal about 15 pellets the size of a small pencil eraser.
The licensee informed NRC HOO of this issue, as information on 8/13/08. The licensee also informed RHB on 8/13/08.
The licensee clarified that this was a notification pursuant to 10 CFR 20.2201 at 1700 on 8/14/08 regarding their inability to locate this material. An investigation is ongoing to reconcile the records regarding lost or missing material at UC Berkeley.
California Report Number: 081308
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