The following report was received via phone and email from the
Texas Department of State Health Services (the Department):
On February 11, 2025, the Department received a notification from the licensee of a lost general licensed device. The device, a P-2021-5432 static eliminator containing a 10 mCi (original activity from May 2023) Po-210 (Polonium) source, was used in a controlled cleanroom environment as an ion gun for removing micro-particles from semiconductor machine components. The licensee stated the device was erroneously disposed of by a facilities technician during a preventative maintenance exercise on cleanroom air guns conducted on December 2, 2024. The licensee stated that to prevent a future recurrence of this incident, all facilities technicians have been trained on the proper identification, restrictions, and regulatory disposal requirements of these devices.
Additional Information will be provided in accordance with SA 300 Requirements
Texas Incident Number: 10167
Texas NMED Number: TX250009
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