The State of
North Carolina discovered 2 missing
static eliminators containing 500 microCi of
Po-210 and 80 microCi of
Am-241. The licensee was billed for the annual fees related to these gages and notified the State that they no longer had the gages in their possession. The State sent an inspector to investigate the situation.
The inspector discovered that the manufacturing facility had been relocated to Vietnam 3 years ago. When this occurred the licensee believes it is possible that the sources were relocated with the majority of the manufacturing facility assets to the Vietnam location at that time.
The State is continuing to follow-up with the licensee to determine disposition of these sources.
- * * UPDATE ON 8/13/09 AT 1022 EDT FROM BARNES TO HUFFMAN * * *
A representative of the State of North Carolina provided the following additional information about the lost sources:
The Am-241 source was manufactured by Pyrotronics. Model number F315A. Serial Number 1000635. Date received - 1971
The Po-210 source was manufactured by Nuclear Products. Model number 2U500. Serial Number Unknown. Date received - 1989
R1DO (Cook) and FSME (McIntosh) have been notified of this update.
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.