The following excerpted information was received by facsimile:
Licensee employees went to the High Pressure Separator Bay to remove a point level gauge so weld repairs could be made to the vessel. "The source was a 3M, Model 4D6L, Cs-137 5000 mCi isotope, Serial Number 71150 in a Ronan SA-10 holder.
The retracting rod was retracted and the shutter was closed. Wanting to be sure the shutter was fully closed, the retracting rod was pushed in and stopped at the shutter. The retracting rod was again retracted, however this time the rod came completely out of the holder. The source capsule was not attached. It appeared that the pins securing the source capsule to the rod had corroded and failed. The retracting rod was reinserted and a survey was done. All present came down from the vessel, barricaded the entry point to the separator bay to prevent access and contacted Thermo-Fisher to have the source removed from the vessel. Radiation readings at the barricaded entry way were 0.1 mR/hr.
Representatives from Thermo-Fisher and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality arrived on site in order to oversee recovery of the source. On December 11, 2009, the source capsule was removed from the holder and placed into a "capture Type A container" for shipping and disposal.
Louisiana Incident Number: LA100002