The following information was received from the State of
Texas via email:
On August 27, 2015, the licensee notified the Agency [Texas Department of State Health Services] that a 100 milliCurie cobalt-57 source had been ordered by one of its investigators and shipped to the proper address for the licensee, but the source had not been received. The licensee's radiation safety officer (RSO) reported that the investigator had checked around noon on the status of the order with the radiation safety office. The radiation safety staff learned that the investigator had ordered it without following procedure and going through their office, so they had not been aware that the source was supposed to be coming. The RSO reported that upon checking with the common carrier handling the package, the carrier showed the package had been delivered on August 21, 2015, 'in College Station' (no other information documented by the driver), and the carrier provided the name of the person who signed for receipt. The carrier opened an investigation. The RSO contacted the company from whom the source was purchased and verified the shipping address was correct. A search was conducted of the building it should have been delivered to, staff was questioned if they had seen/received it or knew the person who signed for it, and the RSO searched staff and student directories and checked through the university's police department for the signer's name with negative results. At approximately 1630 [CDT], the RSO made the determination the package was missing and reported to the Agency. The RSO stated that a team will begin canvasing other buildings in the morning and efforts will continue to locate the package and identify the signer. Further information will be provided as it is obtained in accordance with SA-300.
Texas Incident #: I-9335
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