The following information was provided by the
Texas Department of State Health Services (the Department) via email:
On May 1, 2025, a crew made up of a radiographer trainee and a trainer were working on a job site near Orla, Texas. They were using a 58 Ci Ir-192 source [probably with] a Source Production and Equipment Company (SPEC) 150 device. The radiation safety officer (RSO) stated they had completed a shot and the trainer went to look at the digital picture of the weld. The trainee went to the pipe to setup the next shot. The trainee removed the source collimator and set it down. The trainee began to remove the imaging device when the trainer walked up, and the trainer's alarming rate meter went off. The two radiographers left the area, went back to the crank out handle, and found the source was still cranked out and in the collimator. The radiographers retracted the source to the fully shielded position. The trainee's self-reading dosimeter was off scale. The radiographers contacted the RSO and informed them of the event.
The local RSO had the radiographers reenact the event. It was determined that the trainee was near the exposed source for about three minutes. The trainee reported the collimator was strapped to a stand. The trainee did not touch the collimator when he was moving the source. The majority of the dose would have been to the trainee's knee because of the way the trainee carried the stand with the source. They believe the trainee would have been at least 18 inches from the source during the event. They also believe the trainee was exposed to the source for three minutes. The calculated dose to the knee ranges between 500 millirem and 7.8 rem, depending on what direction the collimator port was facing.
The trainee's alarming rate meter was tested after the event and functioned properly. The trainee's dosimeter is being sent in for processing, but the results will probably not be received until May 5, 2025.
[The Department] requested pictures of the hands of the individual involved in the event to be taken and submitted daily for the next week. The RSO agreed to submit a written report on Monday May 5, 2025.
Texas incident report number: 10195
Texas NMED number: TX250026
- * * RETRACTION ON 05/15/25 AT 1117 EDT FROM ART TUCKER TO JORDAN WINGATE * * *
The following information was provided by the Texas Department of State Health Services (the Department) via email:
On May 6, 2025, the licensee provided a video of the reenactment of the event. The video shows the collimator with the source mounted on a stand. The source would have been 12 inches from the trainee's knee and about 6 inches to the closest part of the leg. The licensee used this information to calculate the dose to the radiographer trainee.
On May 12, 2025, the licensee provided a copy of the request they had sent to its dosimetry processor requesting that the assigned dose to the trainee be 1,069 millirem for the trainee's DDE (deep dose equivalent) and LDE (lens dose equivalent) exposure and a dose of 2,850 millirem be assigned for the SDE (shallow dose equivalent) for the event. No exposures exceeded any limit.
The licensee's name reported in the initial event was incorrect. The name of the licensee is Nondestructive & Visual Inspections LLC.
The event has been retracted.
Notified R4DO (Gepford) and
NMSS Events Notifications (email).