The following information was received from the
Massachusetts Radiation Control Program (the Agency) via email:
A telephone call received by the Agency from the [Radiation Safety Officer] RSO of Invicro, LLC, at 1054 EDT on 5/19/2023. A package was received on 5/19/2023 at approximately 1000 EDT at the licensee's site that exceeded the dose rate limit of 200 mrem/hr on the external surface of the package. The radionuclide was fluorine-18 (F-18) in liquid form enclosed in a glass vial. The assayed dose was 499 mCi at 0930 at PETNET Solutions, Inc. in Woburn, MA, the distributor of the F-18.
The package was labeled Yellow II and the maximum surface dose rate should therefore not exceed 50 mrem/hour for a Yellow II labeled package. The package upon shipment was measured by the shipper to have a surface dose rate of 7 mrem/hour and a transport index (TI) of 0.4.
The licensee reported that 5 wipe samples were taken on the external surface of the package with no resultant removable contamination observed. It was reported that the glass vial contained approximately 350 mCi of F-18 at the time the package was opened. The external dose rates on all external surfaces continued to exceed 200 mR/hr, even with the vial removed from the package.
Surveys of areas where the package was opened, and where the vial was transported, are undergoing. The vial is currently stored in a hot cell. The external package is being stored in a shielded location. Personnel are being surveyed for contamination. At this time there is no indication of external contamination of the shipping package.
The Agency, Invicro LLC, and PETNET Solutions, Inc. are in communication working the details of the scenario and potential personnel exposer.
The
Massachusetts Radiation Control Program considers this to be an open reportable event.