ENS 45261
ENS Event | |
|---|---|
23:00 Aug 12, 2009 | |
| Title | Agreement State Report - Possible Overexposure During Transportation |
| Event Description | On August 13, 2009, at 1630 the Agency [Texas Department of Health] received a call from the licensee's Radiation Safety Officer (RSO) stating that they had shipped a 2.5 curie Cesium 137 source via common carrier to Tyler, Texas from Van Buren, Arkansas. Some time after receiving the source in Tyler, Texas, the licensee discovered that the source had been shipped in a container designed to carry Americium. The licensee recreated the event and determined that the dose rate in the cab of the transport truck was 25 millirem per hour. The trip was estimated to take six hours to complete, so the dose to the driver was calculated to be 150 millirem for the trip. The licensee is attempting to identify the driver and will determine additional dose rates required for shipping during their investigation. A survey was conducted by the licensee prior to the package leaving Arkansas and the individual who performed the survey stated that he did not see any unusual dose rates from the package. The RSO stated that they will provide a copy of the survey and additional information as it is gathered. This Agency [Texas Department of Health] will perform an onsite investigation on August 14, 2009, and will provide additional information to the NRC when prudent.
Texas Incident #I-8655
The following was provided by the State via e-mail: The following information was gathered during interviews conducted at Baker Hughes Oilfield Operations DBA Baker Atlas in Tyler, Texas, on August 21, 2009. The Corporate Radiation Safety Officer (CRSO) was asked to describe the events that had occurred on July 12, 2008. He provided pictures which confirmed that the driver had left the facility in Van Buren, Arkansas, at 1545 on July 12, 2009. A picture of the truck arriving in Tyler, Texas, at 21:35 on July 12, 2009, was also provided. The CRSO stated that the driver was not in or around the truck other than for driving. He was not in the area of the source during the time it was loaded on the truck. No video or pictures were available of a survey being performed on the truck. A dose rate survey was provided, but no contamination survey information could be provided. The dose rate survey indicated a reading of 15 microsieverts/hour (uSv/hr) at the back of the truck and 5 uSv/hr and 2 uSv/hr on the sides of the truck. The dose rate inside the cab of the truck is difficult to read, but was stated to be 2 uSv/hr. The CRSO stated that the dose rates were actually in units of millirem/hour (mr/hr) and not uSv/hr as stated on the survey. The CRSO provided a survey done during the investigation that showed the dose rate at the back of the truck to be 15 mr/hr, but the dose rates on the sides of the truck, 3 feet from the container were 170 mr/hr and 140 mr/hr. The 170 mr/hr was recorded on the side of the truck were the Cesium (Cs) 137 source was located. The dose rate inside the cab was recorded as between 24 and 28 mr/hr. The CRSO stated that the vehicle used to take dose readings in the cab actually had a shorter distance from the source to the driver than the actual truck used. The CRSO used 25 mr/hr as the dose rate to assign a dose to the driver. This gave him a dose of 150 millirem for the drive. The CRSO was asked if the individual who shipped the packages had ever performed a radioactive shipment before. He said probably not. The CRSO was asked if the Site RSO (SRSO) had reviewed the shipment before it left Arkansas. He stated the individual who had shipped the package was the SRSO. He stated that the old SRSO had left the facility a few weeks prior to this event. The CRSO stated that to his knowledge, the SRSO had not received any training on performing shipments involving radioactive material. I asked if the CRSO had talked with the new SRSO prior to this shipment. The CRSO stated that he was not aware that this individual was the SRSO until this event occurred. He stated that the source that was shipped did not fit into the first container that the SRSO tried to use. He looked around till he found a cask it would fit into and assumed it was the correct one." The CRSO was asked why the lack of labels on the shipping container did not raise a flag for the SRSO. He stated that they where in a hurry to get the package out. I asked why the truck did not have placards. He stated that the SRSO knew that it should have been placarded, but he said that the transport company stated that they would place the placards on the truck. I asked why the shipment did not have a contamination survey. The CRSO could not provide an answer. The source was removed from the container and placed in the storage location shortly after it arrived in Tyler, Texas. No surveys were performed on arrival in Tyler, Texas. The CRSO stated that the error was discovered on August 12, 2009, when the source was being packaged to send to a field site. The person preparing the source for shipment could not find a holder they would normally use, so they decided to use the container that was used when it was shipped from Arkansas. The transport container now had the appropriate labels. The source was placed in the transport container in an area monitored by an area radiation monitor. The area radiation monitor continued to alarm even after the source was fully inserted into the transportation container. This was the first indication the licensee had that there was a problem with the transport container. The CRSO was asked if anyone else was on the loading dock while the source was being prepared for shipment. He stated that there was not. The CRSO stated that he believed the transport container used borated paraffin or poly as it was designed for a five curie Americium/Beryllium source. He stated that he would send us the transport container certification. The CRSO stated that conversations with the driver indicated that the driver was not concerned with his radiation exposure. The driver was offered medical assistance, but refused it. Notified R4DO (Miller), and FSME EO (Suber). |
| Where | |
|---|---|
| Baker Hughes Tyler, Texas (NRC Region 4) | |
| License number: | L00446 |
| Organization: | Texas Department Of Health |
| Reporting | |
| Agreement State | |
| Time - Person (Reporting Time:+19.13 h0.797 days <br />0.114 weeks <br />0.0262 months <br />) | |
| Opened: | Art Tucker 18:08 Aug 13, 2009 |
| NRC Officer: | Mark Abramovitz |
| Last Updated: | Aug 28, 2009 |
| 45261 - NRC Website | |
Baker Hughes with Agreement State | |
WEEKMONTHYEARENS 493402013-08-13T06:00:00013 August 2013 06:00:00
[Table view]Agreement State Agreement State - Scrap Metal Shipment Containing Radioactive Material ENS 452612009-08-12T23:00:00012 August 2009 23:00:00 Agreement State Agreement State Report - Possible Overexposure During Transportation 2013-08-13T06:00:00 | |