ML20151C954
| ML20151C954 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 07/12/1988 |
| From: | Burgin R, Wiedeman D NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION III) |
| To: | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20151C952 | List: |
| References | |
| REF-QA-99990003-880612 99990003-88-130, NUDOCS 8807220267 | |
| Download: ML20151C954 (5) | |
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U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION REGION III Report No. 99990003/88130 Docket No. 99990003 License No. N/A (See Footnote 1)
Facility: Amway Corporation 7575 East Fulton Road Ada, MI 49355 Date: June 10-11, 988 <
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Inspector: .
7' Robert E. Burgin Date Senior R- fat n Sp cialiit Approved By: .
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2 0.~G. Wiedeman, Chief Date Nuclear Materials Safety Section 1 ,
Purpose of Site Visit: This special inspection was the result of NRC Region III (Chicago) being notified through Region II (Atlanta) that potentially contaminated cartons / boxes of various materials sterilized at the Radiation Sterilizer, Inc. (RSI) facility in Decatur, Georgia had been shipped to manufacturing and distribution facilities in Region III. The purpose of this site visit to Amway Corporation in Ada, Michigan was to perform surveys of boxes and cartons received from RSI in May 1988 (RSI had identified cesium-137 contamination on irradiated packages still in their Decatur, Georgia facility as a result of leaking cesium-137 WESF capsule and the potential for
, contamination on packages shipped from RSI subsequent to April 29, 1988).
Results: No contamination was found on boxes / cartons received by Amway Corporation from RSI in May 1988. None of the above material had been used in commercial products by Amway, nor had any irradiated packages been redistributed by Amway's Ada, Michigan facility.
1While Amway Corporation possesses an NRC License (No. 21-20295-01) for sealed sources in measuring devices (gauges), the incident under review involved matters not associated with its NRC-licensed activities (i.e., the receipt of potentially contaminated packages from RSI-Decatur, a State of Georgia licensee).
8807220267 880612 REG 3 QA999 EMVAMWAY 99990003 PDC
C DETAILS
- 1. Persons Contacted Ray Jaglowski, Manager of Technical Services, R&D, Amway Jerry McIntyre, Warehouse General Manager, Amway i Bob Rooker, Second Shift Supervisor, Amway Jim Camburn, Michigan Division of Radiological Health
- 2. Receipt of Information On the morning of June 8, 1988, NRC Region III (Chicago) was notified by -
telecon from Region II (Atlanta) that a State of Georgia licensee, Radiation Sterilizer, Inc. (RSI) in Decatur, Georgia, had experienced a leaking WESF cesium-137 source in its commercial irradiator facility.
(see Preliminary Notifications dated June 7 and 8,1988, Attachments A and B, respectively).
On June 10, 1988, Region III was notified by Region II that the licensee ,
(RSI) had determined that some irradiated boxes still at its Decatur, Georgia facility had cesium-137 spot contamination with radiation levels (contact) of 15-25 mR/hr. (This converts to a point-source equivalent of 3 microcuries.)
In an effort to prevent and/or limit off-site contamination, RSI provided NRC Region II with a list of clients receiving packages irradiated by RSI-Decatur subsequent to April 29, 1988 (the last date that pool water samplos were contamination-free).
The initial report indicated only one recipient of irradiated cartons in !
NRC Region III states, AJF Distributors in St. Louis, Missouri, which >
was surveyed by an NRC representative on June 10 and 11, 1988 (see Report No. 99990003/88131 for details / survey results). On the afternoon of June 10, 1988, Region II notified Region III that a second facility which received notentially contaminated packages had been identified: Amway Corpora' in Ada, Michigan. The reason for delayed notification was that the .eferenced packages had been shipped by RSI to Amway-Atlanta (in Region II) and were subsequently shipped by Amway to its Ada, Michigan idcility (in Region III).
Upon notification, Region III contacted representatives of Amway in Ada, Michigan and arranged for a site visit to include confirmatory surveys.
The licensee agreed to isolate and perform its own surveys of the ;
referenced packages on June 10, 1988. A copy of Amway's survey report is included as Attachment C.
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- 3. Site Visit / Confirmatory Surveys On Saturday, June 11, 1988, the NRC inspector met with i Mr. Ray Jaglowski, Manager of Technical Services, R&D, Amway, to l discuss the leaking source / contamination incidents and to perform I independent measurements. l l
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.g Mr. Jaglowski had arranged for the isolation of the boxes / cartons to be surveyed, and stated that none of the material had been used in products or otherwise distributed from the Amway facility in Ada, Michigan. The boxes / cartons were surveyed in warehouse / distribution buildings; they were clearly marked indicating that they should not be removed /used pending Federal inspection.
The NRC's survey results for packages at the Amway-Ada, Michigan facility are summarized below:
4 Date No. of Shipped Pieces Package Survey From RSI1 Lot No. Per Lot Description Results2 5/11/88 AE-5410 4 Cylindrical cardboard BKG8 containers of yellow dye (approx. 12"h x 8"d) t 5/19/88 71213 9 Cardboard boxes of bonemeal '
(approx. 18" x 9" x 9") BKG3 l
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NOTES:
- 1 Shipments were made from RSI, Decatur, Georgia, to Amway's Atlanta, Georgia facilities on these dates; Amway's Atlanta facility subsequently shipped the ,
material to its Ada, Michigan facility. I l
2 Surveys were performed with an Eber11ne E-520 Geiger Counter; Serial No. 2131; NRC 10 No. 009568; last calibrated for ce:ium-137 by Argonne National ;
j Laboratory on May 11, 1988. ,
l 8 All results were at or below background level (0.05 mR/hr). All containers l and associated pallet were surveyed individually. !
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- 4. Exit Interview I l
At the conclusion of NRC surveys performed at the Amway Corporatiun i facility in Ada, Michigan, on June 11, 1988, the inspector related to l Mr. Jaglowski that surveys did not indicate the presence of radioactive l contamination on boxes / packages received by Amway from RSI's ;
Decatur, Georgia irradiator facility subsequent to RSI's cesium-137 ,
source leakage / contamination incident. l Mr. Jaglowski agreed to provide Region III with a copy of Amway's survey
- report (Attachment C), and requested a cupy of the NRC's confirmatory !
4 survey results. i 3
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- 5. .NRC Finding / Conclusions Radiation level surveys performed of boxes / cartons irradiated at Radiation Sterilizer, Inc.'s (RSI's) Decatur, Georgia facility and subsequently shipped to Amway in Ada, Michigan from Amway's Atlanta, Georgia facility in May 1988 indicated that these packages were free from cesium-137 contamination associated with a WESF source. capsule leakage incident at RSI.
- 6. Attachments A. Preliminary Notification, PNO-II-88-40, dtd 6/7/88 B. Preliminary Notification (Update).- PNO-II-88-40A, dtd 6/8/88 C. Amway' Corporation's Radiation Survey Report, dtd 6/$3/88 I
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. June 7, 1988 PRELIMINARY NOTIFICATION OF EVENT OR UNUSUAL OCCURRENCE PNO-II-88-40 This preliminary notification constitutes EARLY notice of events of POSSIBLE safety or public interest significance. The information is as initially received without verifi-cation or evaluation, and is basically all that is known by the Region 11 staff on this date.
FACILITY: R;11ation Sterilizer, Inc. Licensee Emergency Classification:
State of Georgia Licensee Notification of Unusual Event Decatur, Georgia Alert Site Area Emergency General Emergency X Not Applicable
SUBJECT:
LEAKING WESF CESIUM-137 SOURCE The State of Georgia advised Region II on June 7,1988, of a leaking WESF Cesium-137 source at Radiation Sterilizer, Inc., (RSI), an agreement state licensee located in Decatur, Georgia. RSI irradiates medical products and empty food containers--but not food products. ,
I The RSI facility is made up on 252, Cesium-137 WESF capsules, each containing anywhere from 43,000 to 50,000 curies of Cesium-137 in a 25-foot deep pool. The WESF capsules are leased to RSI from Westinghouse Electric Corporation. RSI is licensed to possess a total of 12.3 million curies of Cesium-137.
Preliminary investigations indicate that one or more of the WESF source capsules has been determined to be leaking and has been doing so since sometime after June 3,1988.
All safety systems at the RSI facility functioned as designed. Concentration levels in the pool have been measured at .04 microcurie per milliliter, which equates to approximately four curies of Cesium-137. Radiation levels six inches from the surface of the pool measure 12 to 17 millirem per hour.
Ten RSI employees have worked in the operations area since June 3, and some clothing and minor skin contamination has been measured on several of these employees.
Blood wo'rk analyses are being conducted on all potentially affected persons.
RS! has closed the facility and has taken action to minimize the work force to only those personnel necessary for recovery operations and to minimize personnel traffic in the ,
operations area.
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Other actions taken include the following: i
- 1. Contracted with a senior health physics professor at Georgia Tech to assess the overall recovery operation. i
- 2. A team of Westinghouse and Department of Energy representatives from Hanford, !
Washington, is expected to arrive at the RSI facility at four p.m. today.
- 3. Arrangements have been made with Chem-Nuclear te perform all necessary cleanup and decontamination. Chem-Nuclear representatives are expected to arrive at the facility on i June 9.
Both the state and the licensee are prepared to respond to media inquiries.
8 JR E3 7 : 17 ATTACRMENT A
June 8,1988 PRELIMINARY NOTIFICATION OF EVENT OR UNUSUAL OCCURRENCE PNO-II-88-40A This preliminary notification constitutes EARLY notice of events of POSSIBLE safety or public interest significance. The information is as initially received without verifi-cation or evaluation, and is basically all that is known by the Region II staff on this date.
FACILITY: Radiation Sterilizer, Inc. Licensee Emergency Classification:
State of Georgia Licensee Notification of Unusual Event Decatur, Georgia Alert Site Area Emergency General Ertergency X Not Applicable SUEJECT: LEAKING WESF CESIUM-137 SOURCE - UPDATE This information updates PNO-II-88-40, dated June 7, 1988, regarding the leaking WESF Cesiu.-137 source at Radiation Sterilizer, Inc., an agreement state licensee, located in Decatur, Georgia.
The RSI facility building has been quarantined and only recovery-type operations are taking place.
' Radiation levels six inches from the surface of the pool were measured at 30 millirem per hour today which represents an increase of approximately 12 millirem per hour over measure-Cents taken on the afternoon of June 7,1988.
Two health physics technicians from Westinghouse Hanford are at the RSI site to perform surveys and provide HP coverage.
The State has urged RSI to quickly seek engineering and technical expertise necessary to identify and recover the leaking source.
The State, in conjunction with their contractor, a senior health physics professor from Ceorgia Tech, expects to have an overall strategy plan developed by COB today. -
Chem-Nuclear is expected to arrive at the RSI facility tomorrow.
A site visit and overall recovery strategy meeting with all interested parties, i.e. ,
representatives from RSI, consultants to RSI, Westinghouse Hanford, Chem-Nuclear, the 5% ate, NRC, and others, are expected to occur on June 9,1988.
The Regional Agreement State Representative will provide technical assistance and close coordination with the State during the recovery operation. I The State has prepared a press release but has not issued it at this time.
This information is current as of 3:45 p.m. (EDT) on June 8. ,
l CONTACT: R. E. Trojanowski - 242-5597 l l
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v ATTACHMENT B
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