The following information was received from the State of
Texas via email:
On February 20, 2015, the Agency [Texas Department of State Health Services] was notified by the licensee that on February 19, 2015, one of its radiography crews working at a remote field site [near Kennedy, Texas] was unable to retract a 31.9 Curie Iridium 192 source into a QSA 880D exposure device. The radiographers were examining a pipe on a pipe pad with the collimator being held in place with a magnetic stand. As the radiographer began to retract the source after a shot, the stand fell and struck the source guide tube crimping the tube to a point where the source could not be moved. The radiographers stopped work in the area and moved their boundaries to prevent exposures to members of the general public. The radiographers contacted their radiation safety officer (RSO), but he was located 8 hours9.259259e-5 days <br />0.00222 hours <br />1.322751e-5 weeks <br />3.044e-6 months <br /> from the work site. The RSO contacted the licensee's office in Corpus Christi, Texas and the RSO from that location responded to the event. The Corpus Christi RSO is [at the location] to perform source retrieval. The event occurred at 1630 [CST] and the source was retracted at 2400 [CST]. No over exposures occurred and no member of the general public received any additional exposure from this event. The guide tube has been removed from service for inspection. The dosimetry badges for the individuals involved in the event have been sent to the licensee's processor for reading. The licensee is investigating the event. Additional information will be provided as it is received in accordance with SA-300.
On February 20, 2015, the licensee agreed to send the source involved in this event to the manufacturer for inspection.
Texas Incident: I-9281