The following information was received from the
Arkansas Department of Health via email:
The Arkansas Department of Health, Radiation Control Section (the Section), was notified on February 28, 2023, via a letter received from Anchor Packaging Company in Paragould, Arkansas, of two generally licensed fixed gauges that were determined to not be located on-site (GL-0010). The Section called the manufacturer on March 1, 2023, then received information on March 10, 2023, that they had no record of the gauges ever being returned to them. These gauges each contain 5.55 GBq (150 milliCuries) Am-241 -- NDC device model 102 (device SN 2844) and NDC device model 103X (device SN 13264, source SN 3576CW).
Causes of the event are the following: the lack of effective procedures that stress the general licensee requirements, specifically those that aid accountability of sources; failure to ensure the appointing and support of the individual responsible for having knowledge of the regulations/requirements; and lack of training (though not required) needed to identify radioactive material/general license labeling and then to know what steps to take. The Section is currently working with the licensee regarding corrective actions due to a previous missing devices event, 55793.
Event Number: AR-2023-001
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