The following was received from the
Georgia Radioactive Materials Program, (the Program) via e-mail:
The Program received a voicemail on January 11, 2021, from the Radiation Safety Officer (RSO) notifying us of missing radioactive material. The package, containing 500 microCi of P-32, was scheduled for delivery on December 14, 2020 to the licensee. Because of COVID, [common carrier] did not use electronic signatures and just documented that the package was received by the warehouse attendant, specifically by their name. However, the warehouse attendant who monitors incoming packages, stated the package was never received by him.
The warehouse attendant is trained to stage packages containing radioactive material separate from the other incoming packages and to notify the Radiation Safety Office of the delivery. The licensee has searched through the warehouse in hopes of finding the package but has been unsuccessful. They have also contacted [the common carrier] on several occasions; however [the common carrier] claims the package was delivered. The licensee has informed [the common carrier], to begin again using electronic signatures at the time of delivery. The licensee is within the 30 day reporting requirement and will follow-up with a detailed report within the next day.
Georgia Incident Number: 34
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