The following information was received from the State of
Texas by email:
On May 19, 2014, the Agency [Texas Department of State Health Services] received a complaint alleging multiple rule violations had been committed by an industrial radiographer working for the licensee. On May 27, 2014, during the complaint investigation, the licensee's site radiation safety officer (SRSO) stated that on April 25, 2014, the radiographer had taken one of the licensee's radiography trucks which contained a SPEC 150 exposure device with a 23 curie iridium-192 source following completion of a job in San Antonio, Texas. The radiographer had possession of the truck and exposure device with its source until April 30, 2014. The licensee's SRSO stated they attempted during that time to contact the radiographer and to locate the truck using its GPS locator system, but they were unsuccessful. The licensee located the truck at a recreational vehicle park in Portland, Texas. The licensee's SRSO stated the exposure device was found laying in the floor of the dark room, the dark room door was not locked, and the dark room's alarm was not activated. The SRSO stated to the Agency investigator during the May 27th telephone interview that it did appear to him that an exposure could have resulted to persons in an unrestricted area during the event. An investigation into this event is ongoing and more information will be provided as it is obtained in accordance with SA-300.
Texas Incident: I-9196
- * * RETRACTION FROM KAREN BLANCHARD TO CHARLES TEAL ON 6/4/14 AT 1332 EDT * * *
The following was received from the State of Texas via email.:
Investigation has determined that no theft occurred and this was not a reportable event. Investigation will continue in order to identify and address other potential regulatory violations.
Notified R4DO (Taylor), Grant (IRD), Wray (ILTAB), and FSME Event Resource via email.
THIS MATERIAL EVENT CONTAINS A "CATEGORY 2" LEVEL OF RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL
Category 2 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 a short time (minutes to hours). It could possibly be fatal to be close to this amount of unshielded radioactive material for a period of hours to days. These sources are typically used in practices such as industrial gamma radiography, high dose rate
brachytherapy and medium dose rate
brachytherapy. For additional information go to
http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/Pub1227_web.pdf