The following information was provided by the
New York State Department of Health via email:
New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) Bureau of Environmental Radiation Protection conducted a routine inspection of Sky Testing Services, Inc. (Radioactive Materials License No. C5409) and discovered that a Delta 880 Camera (serial number D6138) had been taken out of service due to a worn s-tube. The camera had been sent to QSA for resourcing on July 25, 2024. As part of the routine servicing/resourcing the leak test for the Ir-192 and depleted uranium (DU) were below 0.001 microcurie, thereby indicating that the source was not leaking. QSA performed a borescopic exam to discover that the s-tube was worn out and the DU shield was exposed. As a result, the camera had been removed from service in accordance with 10 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 34.27. This appears to meet the reportability criteria in 10 CFR 30.50(b)(2) and (c), in addition to 34.101 (equivalent to 12 [New York Codes, Rules and Regulations (NYCRR)] 38.34(h)(3)). Even though the DU was not found to be leaking, the s-tube was worn and retained by the manufacturer during routine quality checks/resourcing.
Prior to discovery of this worn s-tube, the device appears to have operated as intended but posed vulnerability to potential failure from what is believed to be routine wear and tear. As a result, no unplanned exposures directly resulted from this worn s-tube prior to its discovery during routine servicing.
NYSDOH did request corrective actions from this event to confirm if this s-tube will be replaced or if the camera will be removed from service indefinitely. Additionally, NYSDOH informed the facility of the reporting criteria required to address in these corrective actions. It does not appear that the licensee was aware of the reporting requirement.
It is unclear if this event truly meets the reportability under 10 CFR 30.50, however, NYSDOH wants to report this as a precautionary measure.
NYSDOH is closely monitoring this event and has assigned
NYSDOH Incident No. 1505. More information will be provided to Nuclear Material Events Database (
NMED) once available.