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| Start date | Reporting criterion | Title | Event description | System | LER | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ENS 56691 | 22 August 2023 04:00:00 | Agreement State | Damaged Moisture Density Gauge | The following information was received via email from the North Carolina Radioactive Material Branch: The Licensee Authorized User was on a construction site in Dunn performing compaction testing with the referenced nuclear gauge. The area was an open fill section with dump trucks back dumping upon arrival. The contractor requested a test for the current fill layer and the field technician randomly picked a location. There were no dump trucks onsite at the time of the testing. After taking the density test with Gauge 1029, the field technician properly placed the source rod back in the safe position prior to the incident. The technician turned to tell the contractor the test results, then took a few steps (about 12 feet) away from the gauge due to the equipment noise. When he turned around to get the gauge, a dump truck was about twenty feet away heading towards the gauge. The technician immediately started flagging and yelling for the truck to stop due to the proximity of the work area. The driver's attention was in another direction, so he didn't hear or see the field technician's efforts to prevent the accident. The driver ran over the gauge and stopped to see what happened. After a brief conversation, the truck driver left the site. The field technician notified the local Radiation Safety Officer (RSO) and Office Manager of the incident. The RSO instructed the employee to secure the area and to prevent access until he could get there. The local RSO, Office Manager, and Director of Subsidiary Safety responded and arrived at the incident location within 1 hour of the notification. ECS called the North Carolina Emergency Management telephone number and informed them that a nuclear moisture - density gauge had been run over by construction equipment, that the source rod had come out of the gauge but had been placed back into the shielded position. Upon arrival, the field technician and grading contractor employees were interviewed by the RSO. The gauge and test location were surveyed using a calibrated survey meter (Model Radalert, Serial No.: 7326, last calibrated March 26, 2023) by the RSO while approaching the gauge to ensure that the source was in the shielded position and that the transport index was within the acceptable range. The source rod was bent about 6 inches up and the guide rod was broken. The source was confirmed to be in the secured safe position and after the survey was placed in the transport case. Due to the bend handle, the case lid would not close fully on the gauge transport case, so it was pulled tightly to within 2 inches of closing and secured with a python cable and locked. A nuclear safety stand down occurred with all parties involved in the incident upon securing the gauge. The field technician was immediately reinstructed in proper gauge handling requirements. The licensee also scheduled a formal retraining session for the field technician for the following day. All ECS Authorized Users at the licensee's other North Carolina location will receive retraining in gauge security and situational awareness within the next 2 weeks. A leak test was performed on gauge 1029 and the test specimen was transported to Instrotek. No leakage was detected. Gauge Manufacturer: Instrotek Model Number: 3500 Serial Number: 1029 Cs-137 Source Manufacturer: Eckert and Ziegler Model Number: Cs-137 Serial Number: cz-2185 Activity: 10 mCi Am-241 Source Manufacturer: Eckert and Ziegler Model Number: AmBe-241 Serial Number: 127/09 Activity: 40 mCi |