The following information was received from the
Massachusetts Radiation Control Program via email:
On 08/08/19, a package containing 20 mCi of P-32 was sent by PerkinElmer, Inc. (the 'licensee') to the University of Sherbrooke in Ontario, Canada (the 'customer') via the common courier which was scheduled to arrive on 08/09/19. The package never arrived. The customer notified the licensee by telephone on 08/21/19 at 1100 [EDT] of the missing package. The licensee contacted the common courier on 08/21/19 to gain more information and to try and locate the package. The common courier acknowledged they would attempt to locate the package and would call the licensee back. The common courier did not contact the licensee so on 08/22/19 at 1030 [EDT] the licensee contacted the common courier again and discovered the package could not be located and was declared missing. The licensee notified the Massachusetts Radiation Control Program (the 'Agency') by telephone on 08/22/19 at 1200 [EDT] to report a missing package containing radioactive material.
The Agency considers this event to be open.
- * * UPDATE ON 08/23/2019 AT 1154 EDT FROM THE MASSACHUSETTS RADIATION CONTROL PROGRAM TO CATY NOLAN * * *
The activity amount in the original report was erroneously reported as 20 mCi. The correct activity is 737 microCuries.
Notified R1DO (Werkheiser), and ILTAB and NMSS Events (via 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