The following information was received from the State of
Washington via email:
On June 25, 2014 at 1600 PDT, a CPN portable gauge (model MC1-DR, SN: MD00405577) containing 50 mCi of Am-241/Be and 10 mCi of Cs-137 was damaged by a front end loader. An AllWest employee was [performing] an in-place moisture/density test in a parking lot at the URM warehouse project in Spokane, Washington. A front end loader was brought into the same parking lot to work on another part of the project. The AllWest employee walked 20 feet away from the gauge to direct the loader operator. The loader made a hard right turn while backing up to do a line up for a proof roll. The AllWest employee realized the loader was traveling in the direction of the portable gauge. The AllWest employee tried to get the loader operators attention by yelling and waving his hands. The operator noticed and stopped the loader just as the tire bumped the portable gauge. The employee looked at the gauge and did not notice any obvious damage until the loader was moved away. The AllWest employee noticed the gauge guide tube was slightly bent. The employee was able to retract the source rod (which was at 2 inch depth at the time of the accident) and verified the slide plate was in the safe position. The loader was checked for contamination and none was found. The AllWest employee notified the office manager at the time of the accident and was told to return to the office since there was no major damage to the gauge. The office manager contacted the company RSO to report the incident and to report that a leak test would be performed before the gauge would be sent to CPN/Instrotek for repairs. The leak test showed no sign of leaking sources. The gauge was sent to CPN/Instrotek on July 1, 2014 and on July 14, 2014, AllWest was notified that the source rod was also slightly bent and could not be repaired and needed to be disposed of.
Incident Number: WA-14-030