The following summary was received from the
Wisconsin Department of Public Health (the Department) via email:
During a recent routine inspection, the licensee told the Department that they disposed all their tritium exit signs in 2021; however, the licensee had no disposal records for six tritium exit signs which were distributed to the licensed location in 2012 and 2017. The licensee has thoroughly searched its facility and nearby buildings owned by the licensee but the signs could not be located. The licensee suspects the signs were discarded when the storage cabinet they were in was repurposed. Five of the signs were Isolite Model SLX60 (s/n 12-14613, 12-14615, 12-14616, 12-14617 and 12-14618, each originally containing 6.2 Ci of tritium). One sign was an Isolite Model 2000 (s/n H76360, originally containing 7.5 Ci of tritium).
The Department considers this matter to be closed.
Wisconsin Event Report ID No.: WI220013
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