ENS Event | |
|---|---|
16:00 Jan 18, 2012 | |
| Title | Historical Discovery of Leaking Sources |
| Event Description | The following information was obtained from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts via email:
The licensee is a manufacturer of beta gauges used to measure the thickness and weight of materials. This event was discovered when a hired decommissioning consultant found evidence of contamination in the source storage room of the facility. Their intention was to decontaminate the storage room and release it as part of an office relocation project within the same building. The leaking sources in this event were apparently caused by the licensee by the improper application of PVC tape to the source window upon packaging. The licensee claims that this is not a current practice, but is the likely cause of source leakage prior to November of 2009. One or more historical sources could have been involved. The licensee claims that they were sent to Thermo Fisher Scientific in Germany in 2009. The sealed sources installed in the licensee's devices contain Strontium-90, Krypton-85, and Americium-241 (1.85E-10 TBq each). Wipe tests were conducted on all available sources on January 19, 2012 by the licensee. None were found to be leaking. The Massachusetts Radiation Control Program has initiated an investigation of this incident and will subsequently provide a report of the findings. |
| Where | |
|---|---|
| Thermo Egs Gauging, Inc Wilmington, Massachusetts (NRC Region 1) | |
| License number: | 20-6751 |
| Organization: | Ma Radiation Control Program |
| Reporting | |
| Agreement State | |
| Time - Person (Reporting Time:+3672.32 h153.013 days <br />21.859 weeks <br />5.03 months <br />) | |
| Opened: | Kenath Traegde 15:19 Jun 19, 2012 |
| NRC Officer: | Eric Simpson |
| Last Updated: | Jun 19, 2012 |
| 48035 - NRC Website | |
Thermo Egs Gauging, Inc with Agreement State | |
WEEKMONTHYEARENS 480352012-01-18T16:00:00018 January 2012 16:00:00
[Table view]Agreement State Historical Discovery of Leaking Sources 2012-01-18T16:00:00 | |