The following information was received from the
Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality via email:
On February 17, 2023, the [Alpha-Omega] Radiation Safety Officer (RSO) shipped a high dose rate (HDR) source through [a common carrier] for shipment to Radiation Oncology, Elk Grove Village, IL 60007. The shipment's last known location was the [common carrier's] Memphis Hub. Alpha-Omega contacted the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality / Emergency Response Services Division / Radiation Section to report that a HDR Ir-192 source was lost in transit with [a common carrier] on March 30, 2023.
The source serial number is 02-01-1027-001-021523-11023-87. The activity of the Ir-192 source on 2/17/23 was 400 GBq when it was shipped. The current activity on 3/31/23 is 7.292 Ci (269.8 GBq).The [common carrier's representative] in Dangerous Goods Administration stated that, '[the common carrier's] position is that an exhaustive manual search was completed and the parcel is no longer in our control.'
Louisiana Event Report ID No.: LA20230006
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