The following licensee provided information was forwarded from the
Mississippi State Department of Health via email:
A replacement Ir-192 source [(100 Ci)] was ordered from QSA Global on 3-24-22. QSA sent an `Advanced Shipping Notice' email after hours at 1800 CDT on 5-26-22. The source arrived the following day, Friday, 5-27-22. The source was delivered to the Shipping/Receiving dock (building 9145), operated by S3 [(Syncom Space Services)]. (Note: the standard practice is for the source to be delivered directly to the building where S3 licensed sources are secured.) The Receiving worker signed for the shipment at 1000 CDT on 5-27-22. The Receiving worker is not a radiation safety qualified employee. The RSO [(Radiation Safety Officer)], nor any other radiation safety qualified personnel were contacted upon delivery of source. The RSO was not at work on Friday, and unaware the source was being delivered that day. The source was in the Shipping/Receiving building (locked when personnel are not on site) until Tuesday morning, 5-31-22. Upon arrival to work at 0600 CDT Tuesday morning, the RSO read the email from QSA Global and checked the tracking information. At that time, he realized the source had been delivered. The RSO identified which Receiving worker signed for the source. Their shift starts at 0700 CDT. Upon their arrival, the RSO verified that the source was at the Shipping/Receiving building. The RSO immediately picked up the source and brought it to the secure vault. Management was then notified, and the investigation began.
The S3 Heath Physics Coordinator and
RSO (with concurrence from NASA
HP [(Health Physicist)]) concluded that no employee was exposed to an unallowable amount of radiation based on where the source was placed and its proximity to employees in the area. The investigation is ongoing to identify the process failures that
lead to this incident. NASA has been notified and the incident has been entered into a formal tracking system.