The following information was received via E-mail:
At approximately 1300 MST on July 26, 2016, the licensee contacted the Agency [Arizona Radiation Regulatory Agency] and reported that a 0.4 millicurie Iodine-125 source, which was being used for localization, was discovered missing. An initial radiation survey of the department did not locate the source. The licensee does not know the exact date or time that the I-125 source went missing.
The agency is continuing to investigate the event.
The Governor's Office and NRC are being notified of this event.
Arizona First Notice Number: 16-013
Notified Mexico via E-mail.
- * * UPDATE AT 1540 EDT ON 8/16/16 FROM BRIAN GORETZKI TO JEFF HERRERA * * *
The following update was received from the Arizona Radiation Regulatory Agency via email:
On August 12, 2016, the licensee notified the Agency [Arizona Radiation Regulatory Agency] that the initial notification was incorrect and that a 0.5 [micro Curie] Cs-137 button source had been lost and not an I-125 seed. The Administrative Director stated that he had assumed it was an I-125 seed because the lost source was from pathology but he did not clarify.
Notified R4DO (Proulx), NMSS (email), ILTAB (email), MEXICO(email).
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