The following was received from the
Georgia Radioactive Materials Program (Agency) via email:
Hurst Boiler Welding Company used [a common carrier] to ship a source changer back to QSA Global. It was shipped on May 19, 2021, and officially declared lost on 6/14/21. Hurst Boiler reported the loss to [the Agency] on 6/16/21. The licensee intended to ship a source changer back to QSA global via [a common carrier] on 5/19/2021. After approximately 14 days without a confirmation of receipt. The licensee contacted [the common carrier] on 6/14/21, who confirmed the source had been lost. The Radiation Safety Officer (RSO) then contacted [the Agency] on 6/16/21. When speaking with the RSO by phone, he stated the source changer contains an Ir-192 source (Serial # 9887G Model SC-800). The source activity when shipped (5/19/21) was 8.3 Ci and as of 6/16/21 it has decayed to 6.3 Ci. The most current leak test was performed on 8/31/21. The RSO was advised to provide a written report and submit all supporting documents as soon as possible.
Georgia Incident #41
- * * UPDATE ON 7/7/21 AT 1700 EDT FROM SHATAVIA WALKER TO BRIAN P. SMITH * * *
The source has been retrieved in North Carolina. The following e-mail was received from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services in regards to finding the lost source:
[The common carrier] confirmed with our staff this morning that the shipment was located in Durham, NC. It had been delivered to an incorrect shipping warehouse. [The common carrier] will be picking it up from that location later today and getting it back on route to the vendor in Massachusetts. The error was discovered by reviewing video footage and noticing it being loaded to the truck bound for Durham.
Notified R1DO (Lilliendahl), NMSS Events Notification (E-mail), and ILTAB (E-mail)
THIS MATERIAL EVENT CONTAINS A 'Category 3' LEVEL OF RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL
Category 3 sources, if not safely managed or securely protected, could cause permanent injury to a person who handled them, or were otherwise in contact with them, for some hours. It could possibly - although it is unlikely - be fatal to be close to this amount of unshielded radioactive material for a period of days to weeks. These sources are typically used in practices such as fixed industrial
gauges involving high activity sources (for example: level
gauges, dredger
gauges, conveyor
gauges and spinning pipe
gauges) and well logging. For additional information go to
http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/Pub1227_web.pdf