The following report was received via e-mail:
On November 17, 2016 the Agency [Texas Department of State Health Services] received notice from a service company that it had a gauge which appeared to have leaked the radioactive material. The gauge potentially leaked Krypton-85 gas because the device failed to operate normally. The device activity did not produce acceptable measurements and was removed from service/operation. The device was removed from service by the service company and set into a storage area and labeled to prevent movement. The licensee made arrangements for the manufacturer to service the gauge stating to the Agency [Texas Department of State Health Services] that it would take the manufacturer three weeks before it could schedule a visit to the plant site. The manufacturer must confirm that Kr-85 indeed did leak from the gauge.
Device information provided included by the licensee:
Manufacturer - Valmet/Metso,
Gauge model - BMW2,
Gauge S/N - 50048138,
Isotope - Kr-85,
Activity - 400mCi,
Source S/N - QA00168.
On December 23, 2016, the licensee verbally confirmed the device had leaked the Kr-85 gas. The manufacturer will be providing a service description and details of how the device was checked and or repaired. Awaiting the service report from the manufacture.
The seam on the source capsule had ruptured.
Texas incident: I-9442
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