The following was received from the state via email:
On August 7, 2009, the Agency [State] was notified by the licensee RSO (Radiation Safety Officer) of a possible leaking source discovered during a routine leak test. The source is a 25 mCi Sr-90 source (as of 07/93). The RSO said he is used to seeing approximately 75 dpm on the wipe, but this time the wipe was 323 dpm. Since this level is below the report limit of .005 uCi (11,000 dpm), no report was made. An [State] Agency inspector was in the area and said he would stop in to investigate.
The inspector arrived and discovered that the source is leaking. A contact reading using a Ludlum 14C with side window GM (Geiger Muller) was off scale high. The four swipes of the source were checked with the Ludlum 14C with pancake GM probe. The swipes/Q-tips read 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, and 1.1 mr/hr on contact. The Q-tips are contained in individual plastic zip-top bags. A swipe of the source holder did not yield any removable contamination. The background in the area is <0.1 mr/hr. The sources are in the source manipulation/storage room and all sources are in storage.
The licensee is planning to terminate their license in the next few weeks and has been in contact with DOE (Department of Energy) to take possession of their sources under the orphaned source retrieval program.
The notification is being made per NC Regulations 15 A NCAC 11 .0357(b)(1)(B) an unplanned contamination event involving RAM exceeding 5 times 10 CFR 20.1001 - .2401 Appendix C values (the Appendix C value for Sr-90 is 0.1 microcuries) as well as .0357(b)(2)(A) equipment fails to function as designed when it is required to prevent releases exceeding regulatory limits.
This is a 24 hr notification event.
The investigation is ongoing and updates will be provided as information is obtained.
NC-Report #: 09-35