PNO-I-98-050, on 981030,Region IV Ofc Was Notified That Contaminated Package Had Been Received at Hummelstown,Pa Facility.Facility Concluded That Contaminant Was I-131.Insp at Facility Will Continue

PNO-I-98-050:on 981030,Region IV Ofc Was Notified That Contaminated Package Had Been Received at Hummelstown,Pa Facility.Facility Concluded That Contaminant Was I-131.Insp at Facility Will Continue

ML20155C581
Person / Time
Site:	03033224
Issue date:	10/30/1998
From:	Courtemanche S, Darden T NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION I)
To:
References
PNO-I-98-050, PNO-I-98-50, NUDOCS 9811020274
Download: ML20155C581 (2)

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. . October 30, 1998  !

- 1 jE8ELi'MINARY NOTIFICATION OF EVENT OR UNUSUAL OCCURRENCE PNO-I-98-050 This preliminary notification constitutes EARLY notice of events of POSSIBLE l safety or public. interest significance. The information is as initially

, received without terification or evaluation, and is basically all that is

_knou!n by Region I staff in King of Prussia. Pennsylvania on this date.

Facility ._

Licensee Emeraency Classification i Syncor International Notification of Unusual Event '

Syncor International Alert 8181 President's Drive Site Area Emergency <

Hummelstown. Pennsylvania 17036 General Emergency Dockets: 03033224 License No: 0426507-01MD X Not Applicable

Subject:

CONTAMINATED PACKAGE A representative from the Syncor International Corporate Office contacted personnel from the NRC Region IV office to report that a contaminated package had been received at their Hummelstown Pennsylvania facility. '

. ;NRC Region IV informea NRC Region I of the contaminated package and Region I contacted the licensee at 3:15 p.m. EST for further.information.

The licensee stated that.the contamination had been detected during the morning of October 29, 1998 during a contamination survey of a transport vehicle. The contamination was reported to the Syncor Corporate office about 12 noon EST. The radiation ex]osure levels were reported to be 7 milliroentgen / hour (mR/hr) of the velicle and 20 mR/hr on the bottom of a contaminated container used to transport radiopharmaceuticals. The survey was made by the licensee using a Ludlum Model 44-9 pancake probe.

The facility Jersonnel took wipes of the contaminated case and determined, t1 rough the use of a multi-channel analyzer, that the contaminant was iodine-131. The licensee informed Lancaster General Hospital -(LGH) from whom the transport container had been taken, of the contamination and advised LGH to perform surveys to identify possible contaminated _ areas within their facility. The licensee stated that there

'have been no further reports of contaminated packages from their other j clients and that they would be contacting the NRC Operations Center. The ,

NRC requested that the licensee determine when the package was delivered  !

to LGH, when the package was returned from LGH, and how long the vehicle may have been contaminated.

NRC Region I contacted the RSO from LGH about 3:40 p.m. EST to obtain ,

additional information. The RSO stated that they had last received a package from the licensee containing liquid iodine-131 on October 26, i 1998 at 11:00 a.m. EDT. Two doses of 130 millicuries were delivered and were administered between 12:30 p.m. and 12:45 ).mm EDT the same day. The RSO stated that they had completed surveys of t1e area where the packages were delivered and where the doses of iodine-131 were administered and hac _ detected isolated areas of contamination. However, they had characterized the contaminant as technetium-99m.

'NRC Region I then contacted Syncor personnel at the Hummelstown PA facility about 4:00 p.m. EST. The representative stated that the

. contamination had been found during a demonstration of how to perform a vehicle survey for new personnel. Vehicle surveys are normally performed once a week, on a Wednesday or a Thursday. Records from previous surveys 1

1020 74 98103OI PNO-I-90-050 PDR i 7 D+A-$-Icyp, 9

,NO-I;98-050 P . . .

indicated that the vehicle was not contaminated prior to the October 29.

1998 survey. -The representative described the contaminated area of the vehicle as being the front portion of the rack used to hold containers in place along with some of the restraining gear and that the radiation exposure levels were 7 mR/hr. The representative then surveyed all of the transportation cases.in the receiving area and detected no contamination on any of the cases or the area. Radiological surveys of the " break-down" area by the representative isolated the contaminated -

case and determined that a.few other cases were contaminated. The contamination on the other cases was below the reportable levels of

. contamination or internal 3rocedures requiring cleaning of the cases. The contaminated case was swab]ed by the licensee to decrease the radiation exposure levels below 20 mR/hr and then the case was bagged for storage.

The licensee is performing surveys.of the vehicles of personnel and their 1 clothing. Also, the licensee will be conducting bioassays of personnel.

.The licensee's records. indicated that the client received three packages i

containing liquid iodine-131. One package was received about 5:30 a.m. )

EDT on October 26, 1998 and contained one dose of 4.3 millicuries and one-dose of 15 millicuries. Two packages containing 130 millicuries each were' delivered about 11:0C d.m. EDT the same day. All of these packages

.were surveyed for contamination by the licensee and only the one package described above was found to be contaminated. I The NRC 0perations Center was notified of the incident at 4:25 p.m. EST.

October'29, 1998, by the licensee.

-On October 30. 1998. NRC Region I dispatched an inspector to examine the  !

ilicensee's actions.with respect to the incident. During the inspection. .I another vehicle was determined to be contaminated with iodine-131. The NRC will continue the inspection at the client's facility to determine the extent of the problem.

i l

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has been notified. The Region I Office of Public Affairs is prepared to respond to media inquiries. The licensee is continuing to investigate the'cause of the contamination

' incident. NRC Region I will continue to monitor the licensee's' efforts.

This information is current as of 10:00 a.m. on October 30, 1998.

Contact:

S. Courtemanche T. Darden

)

(610)337-5075 (610)337-5245 '

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