The following report was received from the
Texas Department of State Health Services (the Department) via phone and email:
On November 15, 2024, the Department was notified by the licensee that the location of three 5 mCi (original activity in October 2021) Ge-68 rod sources could not be determined. The sources were supposedly shipped back to the manufacturer in the fourth quarter of 2022, but no receipt record was available from the manufacturer to show the sources were received. The missing paperwork was discovered during an inventory verification audit in May of 2024 by the consulting physicist. Since that time, there were many staff changes. The new technologist had been working to clean up issues and has tried to contact all the parties involved, but could not find the paperwork. Consequently, the licensee declared them lost and reported them as such to the Department on November 15, 2024. The licensee stated the sources do not pose a risk of additional exposure to any worker or member of the public. Additional information will be provided in accordance with SA-300.
Texas Incident Number: 10144
Texas NMED Number: TX240043
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