The following is a summary of information provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (
NOAA) via phone:
A current authorized user was on site in August to test and calibrate systems. They verbally notified the radiation safety officer (RSO) on August 26, 2024, that the spare Ni-63 electron capture detector (ECD) was not in the respective gas chromatograph (GC) which is normally located in the sea-going CFC van. On August 27, the authorized user and the RSO began a search for the missing ECD. The RSO contacted the previous authorized user on August 27, 2024, and they reported that they did not recall reinstalling the spare ECD in March 2020 due to the cruise being cancelled due to COVID. On September 1st, 2024, that authorized user sent a photo of the box used for shipping the ECD, noting that the photo was from July 14, 2021, and the box was present in the sea-going van in Seattle, Washington. A further search was conducted in the sea-going van by the RSO, and the other authorized user, but the ECD and the shipping box have not been located. This search was suspended on October 10, 2024. The licensee will continue looking for the missing ECD.
The following additional information was obtained from the licensee in accordance with Headquarters Operations Officers Report Guidance:
Device Information:
Manufacturer: Shimadzu
Model: GC-8A
Source S/N: 2191
Activity: 8.3 mCi
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