The Midwest Inspection Services building has been severely damaged by a tornado storm. All radiography cameras have been accounted for and are stored in a safe location. The vault is intact.
Tornados are forecasted to continue throughout the evening.
- * * UPDATE AT 1205 EDT ON 05/17/17 FROM MICHAEL BRODERICK TO JEFF HERRERA * * *
The following update was received from the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality via email:
Shortly after 22:30 [CDT] on the evening of May 16th, Oklahoma DEQ [Department of Environmental Quality] verbally notified the HOO [NRC Headquarters Operations Officer] of an event affecting an Oklahoma radiography company. This is a follow-up report to confirm the verbal report and provide more details.
Facility Name: Desert NDT, LLC dba Shawcor (note) the facility was historically known as Midwest Inspections, and was accidentally referred to by that name in the initial report.
Facility license number: OK-32104-01
Because of concern generated by news reports, DEQ [Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality] contacted the facility at about 22:00 [CDT] and over the following few minutes, we were able to reach the facility manager. [The facility manager] reported that their licensed facility at Elk City had been largely destroyed by the tornado reported in the media. He indicated that the vault was mostly intact, but had damage to the ceiling. All power at the facility was out. [The facility manager] indicated they [Desert NDT] had fifteen cameras in the vault, and others were out in trucks on jobs around the region. [The facility manager] reported that they [Desert NDT] had done an inventory on the fifteen cameras in the vault, and confirmed that they were accounted for. [The facility manager] had no reports of problems with any sources dispatched on jobs. [The facility manager] explained that they [Desert NDT] did not regard the damaged vault as suitable for secure storage, but they [Desert NDT] had one radiography truck that was largely intact, and they [Desert NDT] were storing the fifteen cameras in one truck, and keeping the truck under constant surveillance by an employee who was authorized unescorted access. Media reports indicated that another storm, weaker than the first, but still having potential tornadoes was headed for the area. In a second call, the facility manager reported that because of concerns about further storms, they had moved the cameras into a storm shelter in [a secure location]. [The facility manager] indicated that the storm shelter was under surveillance, and was lockable, and would remain locked unless being directly accessed. In view of the remarkable circumstances, [Oklahoma] DEQ approved this arrangement as an interim measure. About 8:20 [CDT] on the morning of the 17th, [Oklahoma] DEQ contacted the manager again. [The facility manager] indicated that the fifteen cameras were still secured in the storm shelter. [The facility manager] reported that there was no known further damage during the night, and that the company would be conducting a confirmatory inventory of the fifteen cameras, and conducting an inventory to ensure that cameras out on jobs were safe and under control. [The facility manager] will report the results of this to [Oklahoma] DEQ when available. [The facility manager] explained that they were doing an assessment of undamaged trucks that were suitable for secure storage under Part 37, and that they planned to retain some sources at the Elk City facility using the trucks that were suitable. [The facility manager] indicated that excess sources would be moved to a licensed company facility out of state. [The facility manager] will follow up with [Oklahoma] DEQ later today.
[Oklahoma] DEQ has used GIS [Geographic Information System] to identify seven other licensed facilities that are near the storm track, and are not considered as having as much concern. We [Oklahoma DEQ] contacted all of them by phone this morning and confirmed that all is well.
Notified the R4DO (Miller) and
NMSS via email.