The following information was received via facsimile:
On December 9, 2010, North Carolina Radiation Protection Section (NCRPS) received a phone call from the Radiation Safety Officer (RSO) of J. Leek Associates, Inc. (JLA). The RSO stated that he needed to register a new Ni-63 gas chromatograph (GC) source because the old Ni-63 source had been lost. The lost source was used in a model GC-14A PSE, Shimadzu GC. The serial number of the lost source was 608335.
NCRPS initiated an investigation and performed an inspection on December 14, 2010. The missing source could not be located during the inspection. Three violations were issued by NCRPS to JLA in a Notice of Violation (NOV) letter dated December 21, 2010. The three violations were:
1. Loss of Ni-63, activity-10 mCi, Serial Number 608335.
2. Failure to perform inventory every six months.
3. Failure to perform leak test every six months.
JLA responded to the NOV on January 20, 2011. NCRPS is currently reviewing the JLA file for escalated enforcement actions and penalty assessment. This incident has been closed.
NCRPS believes the source may have been lost in the trash and not stolen.
NCRPS Incident No.: 11-06.
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. For additional information go to
http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/Pub1227_web.pdf