ENS 46864
ENS Event | |
|---|---|
14:00 May 18, 2011 | |
| Title | Agreement State Report - Radioactive Shipment Lost in Transit |
| Event Description | On May 19, 2011, the Agency [State of Texas] was notified by a shipper that on May 18, 2011, a package carrying a 297 Giga Becquerel Iridium (Ir) 192 source manufactured by Alpha-Omega Laboratory and shipped from Vinton, Louisiana was lost near the intersection of Rankin and Albine Westfield Roads in Houston, Texas. The source is used in a high dose afterloader. The source was being transported to DHL in Houston, Texas for shipment to the country of Brazil. The shipper stated that the door on the back of the truck popped opened and the driver could not see it open or any of the contents from the truck fall onto the road. The truck is a large truck with doors that swing open in the back. A member of the general public (MGP) saw several letters setting on the road and stopped to pick them up. He stated that he saw the small drum the source was packaged in across the road in a church parking lot and did not indicate that he saw any damage to the drum. He could not retrieve the drum because of the traffic and he was taking his wife to a doctor's appointment. On his way back from the doctor office about an hour later the MGP went back by the location where the drum had been and it was gone. He took the letters by a FedEx office and told them what had happened. FedEx responded by driving to the location and searching for the source. They also traced the path traveled by the truck three times, but they did not locate the source. The package the source is contained in is a Type A package, 34 cm in length, 34 cm wide, and 37 cm high and is similar to a 5 gallon paint bucket. The shipper stated that there was a locking device on the container. The container is labeled with a Yellow III label with a transport index of 1.3. Additional information will be provided as it is received in accordance with SA-300.
Later, the state reported that the source has been located at a Houston Area Fire Department. The state will provide additional information as it is received. Texas Incident #: I - 8854 THIS MATERIAL EVENT CONTAINS A "CATEGORY 3" LEVEL OF RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL Category 3 sources, if not safely managed or securely protected, could cause permanent injury to a person who handled them, or were otherwise in contact with them, for some hours. It could possibly - although it is unlikely - be fatal to be close to this amount of unshielded radioactive material for a period of days to weeks. These sources are typically used in practices such as fixed industrial gauges involving high activity sources (for example: level gauges, dredger gauges, conveyor gauges and spinning pipe gauges) and well logging. For additional information go to http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/Pub1227_web.pdf Although IAEA categorization of this event is typically based on device type, the staff has been made aware of the actual activity of the source, and after calculation determines that it is a Category 3 event. Note: the value assigned by device type "Category 2" is different than the calculated value "Category 3 |
| Where | |
|---|---|
| Federal Express Houston, Texas (NRC Region 4) | |
| Organization: | Texas Department Of Health |
| Reporting | |
| Agreement State | |
| Time - Person (Reporting Time:+30.37 h1.265 days <br />0.181 weeks <br />0.0416 months <br />) | |
| Opened: | Art Tucker 20:22 May 19, 2011 |
| NRC Officer: | Mark Abramovitz |
| Last Updated: | May 19, 2011 |
| 46864 - NRC Website | |
Federal Express with Agreement State | |
WEEKMONTHYEARENS 468642011-05-18T14:00:00018 May 2011 14:00:00
[Table view]Agreement State Agreement State Report - Radioactive Shipment Lost in Transit 2011-05-18T14:00:00 | |