The following report was received from the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania via email and facsimile:
Event Type: Loss of licensed material in a quantity greater than or equal to 1000 times the Appendix C quantities in part 20.
Notifications: NRG Energy discovered the event on March 7, 2016, [at their Seward, PA location,] and submitted a report to the Department [Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection] on March 9, 2016. This event is reportable as per 10 CFR 20.2201(a)(1)(i).
Event Description: On Monday March 7, 2016, while conducting the six month inventory check of the radioactive sources at the Seward Power Plant, one tritium exit sign was found missing. The exit sign was installed above a door located in Seward's Fuel Barn. The last inventory check was conducted September 11, 2015, and the exit sign was present at that time. The exit sign was manufactured by EMERG-LITE and was an Everlite series sign. The sign contained between 9.5 - 11.5 Ci of tritium gas at the time of manufacture and was to be replaced before February 2023. The sign was last known to be in good condition and not damaged. No cause for the missing sign has been identified and no exposures have been recorded at this time.
Cause of the Event: Unknown at this time. The plant is currently searching the site and conducting interviews with personnel.
Actions: The Department will be following up with the facility for any additional information. The plant is also conducting refresher radiation training to plant personnel. More information will be provided upon receipt.
Pennsylvania Event Report ID No: PA160009.
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