ENS 49656
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ENS Event | |
|---|---|
06:00 Dec 16, 2013 | |
| Title | Agreement State Report - Lost Vial of Thallium-201 |
| Event Description | The Radiation Safety Officer at GE Healthcare (Mediphysics) [IL-01109-01] Arlington Heights, IL called the Agency [IL Emergency Management Agency] on December 18, 2013 to report an incident concerning an over pack shipment intended for their pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia. On Sunday December 15, a package containing 12 shielded vials of TL-201, 31 milliCi each, was transferred to Delta Airlines Freight services at Chicago's O'Hare international airport for shipping to Atlanta. The package arrived at Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport the next day and was unloaded. However during the trip from the air plane cargo hold to the freight hub, the package tumbled off the conveyance and was broken open. This occurred on Sunday night, December 16. That night and the next morning a 3rd party contractor hired by the airlines/airport collected the vials and its packaging and placed the material into an over pack and secured the drum until it could be claimed by GE Healthcare. Based on the description and measurements performed by the company which were provided to GE Healthcare, it appeared none of the glass vials within their shielded containers were broken. As such it was determined that the vials were to be repackaged and forwarded to the pharmacy for evaluation. When repackaging at the freight hub was attempted by the GE Atlanta pharmacist on Tuesday, December 17, it was confirmed that no contamination was present on the packaging or the interior containers, however, it became clear that only 11 of the 12 vials were present in the salvage drum, contrary to the contractor's initial assertions. GE Healthcare contacted the Georgia agreement state program regarding the matter. The contractor is conducting additional visual and radiological surveys of the tarmac and freight hub. As of today (12/18/13), calculations show that a single vial contains approximately 16 milliCi of TL-201. If intact and still shielded as the other vials which were found, GE Healthcare estimates that the vial would have a dose rate of approximately 350 microR/hr at one foot.
A report on the matter from GE Healthcare is anticipated. They have indicated that they would keep us appraised of developments as this matter moves forward. The Agency has been in touch with a representative of the Georgia program regarding potential additional actions to recover the vial. Given the 72 hour8.333333e-4 days <br />0.02 hours <br />1.190476e-4 weeks <br />2.7396e-5 months <br /> half life of the material, there will be no TL-201 present within the next 30 days. Also given that no contamination was detected on the packaging and the other 11 containers of Tl-201 were found intact, there is reason to assume the missing container was still intact at the time of the accident and the search is being conducted accordingly. Illinois Event Number: IL13036 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 |
| Where | |
|---|---|
| Ge Healthcare Arlington Heights, Illinois (NRC Region 3) | |
| License number: | IL-01109-01 |
| Organization: | Illinois Emergency Mgmt. Agency |
| Reporting | |
| Agreement State | |
| Time - Person (Reporting Time:+56.15 h2.34 days <br />0.334 weeks <br />0.0769 months <br />) | |
| Opened: | Daren Perrero 14:09 Dec 18, 2013 |
| NRC Officer: | Donald Norwood |
| Last Updated: | Dec 18, 2013 |
| 49656 - NRC Website | |
Ge Healthcare with Agreement State | |
WEEKMONTHYEARENS 567912023-10-12T05:00:00012 October 2023 05:00:00
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