The following information was provided by the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts via email:
Morpho Detection is in the process of moving its facility, and as part of this process wipe-tests were conducted on older Ni-63 sealed sources (approx. 8 - 10 millicuries per source), that were in storage prior to transfer to a contractor for disposal. The leak tests showed that four groups of sealed sources had results that were above the threshold limit of 5 nanocuries. Thus one or more of the sealed sources within each group showed signs of leakage or contamination. Licensee reports that additional wipe tests were not conducted to determine the specific sources that were leaking.
The Ni-63 sealed sources were identified by the licensee as Model Number NER-004 and GE Homeland Protection detector heads containing those sources.
Overall, the leak tests revealed that Ni-63 contamination ranged from 0.030 to 0.98 microcuries for the four groups of sealed sources that were analyzed.
Wipes were taken by the licensee by swabbing the exterior of a group of sealed sources of similar type (R&D dual-source detector heads were differentiated from R&D single source detector heads, etc.), thus the multiple sources within a group were swabbed with a single swab which was ultimately analyzed by a licensed contractor (Radiation Safety Control Services, Stratham NH).
Subsequent to finding contamination, the sources were placed in containers, sealed, and wipe-tests (using swabs) were carried out on the exterior of the storage containers along with the interior and exterior of the cabinet in which they were being stored The wipe tests of the containers and cabinet showed no levels that indicated Ni-63 contamination.
The licensee disposed of the sealed sources by contracting the services of Viola Environmental Services (12/09/14).
The Agency [Commonwealth of Massachusetts] considers this event open.
Equipment problems:
R&D Dual-source detector heads (9 dual sources), 1 swab, resulted in a finding of 0.98 microcuries
EntryScan detector heads (6 sources), 1 swab, resulted in a finding of 0.069 microcuries
R&D Single-source detector heads (9 single sources), 1 swab, resulted in a finding of 0.155 microcuries
Ni-63 bare sources (9 sources), 1 swab, resulted in a finding of 0.0301 microcuries