Ten
tritium exit signs belonging to Bed Bath and Beyond were inadvertently placed into a compactor and damaged. The signs originally contained 7.5 Ci of
tritium when they were purchased 7-10 years ago. Shaw Environmental will take smears of the site next week to determine if there is residual contamination or cleanup required. The signs have been placed in drums and the area quarantined.
See report of this same event from the State of Wisconsin EN #48224
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