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| Start date | Reporting criterion | Title | Event description | System | LER | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ENS 46193 | 16 August 2010 07:00:00 | Agreement State | California Agreement State Report - Lost Tritium Exit Signs | The following information was received from the State of California via email: On 08/20/10, the ARSO at Stanford University called and informed RHB (California Department of Public Health - Radiologic Health Branch) of the following: On 8/16/10, it was discovered that one of our Contractors, Vance Brown, lost control of 28 signs they removed from two buildings (Building 05-600 Moore South (row 475) and Building 05-610 Moore North (row 493). The signs were placed into a plastic bin and Vance Brown cannot determine what happened to them. Representatives from Vance Brown and Redwood City Electric, the electrical subcontractor who removed the signs, conducted an investigation to determine the fate of the signs. They determined that while the signs had been removed and stored properly awaiting disposal by EH&S (Stanford University Environmental Health and Safety), they vanished from the secured construction site at an undetermined time between 6/28/2010 and 8/16/10. EH&S met with representatives from Vance Brown and Redwood City Electric on 8/19/10. Several avenues were explored during the meeting. Vance Brown explained that the site was broken into on 7/29/2010 and several tools and other valuables were stolen. Vance Brown filed a police report, but did not notice the signs missing at that time. Vance Brown and Redwood City Electric also questioned their employees, reviewed truck logs, and looked through both construction site storage containers and their off-site warehouses. Stanford EH&S has also conducted an internal investigation to determine if any Stanford employees had picked up the signs. None had. Stanford EH&S also queried the waste hauler used by Redwood City Electric (Quick Light Recycle) who stated they had not picked up the signs. At this time Vance Brown and Stanford EH&S has exhausted potential locations for the plastic bin of 28 tritium exit signs and considers them to be lost and/or missing. California Report No.: 5010-082010 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 This source is not amongst those sources or devices identified by the IAEA Code of Conduct for the Safety & Security of Radioactive Sources to be of concern from a radiological standpoint. Therefore is it being categorized as a less than Category 3 source |