ENS 56873
ENS Event | |
|---|---|
06:00 Oct 16, 2023 | |
| Title | Found Gauges |
| Event Description | The following information was provided by the Texas Department of State Health Services (the Department) via email:
A Houston police officer was driving by a scrap yard on October 16, 2023, when his [personal radiation detector] PRD alarmed. He contacted his office, and another officer with radiation detection equipment went to the location and determined the radionuclide to be cesium-137. This officer contacted the Department, and on October 17, 2023, a Department investigator went to the location and located a box in a remote section of the scrap yard. The 4 foot by 4 foot by 4 foot box had several devices that appeared to be nuclear gauges in it. A service provider was contacted by the Department and put in contact with the property owner. The service provider responded to the location to remove the gauges and determine the source of radiation. Access to the area was restricted and controlled by the property owner. It does not appear that any individual would have exceeded an exposure limit. The service provider was able to determine that there was one source in the box. The source was placed in the back of a trash truck and shielded with all of the empty source holders stacked around it. The source holders all had the radioactive materials information removed. On October 19, 2023, a second service provider went to the site to retrieve the source. While there, they found three more shields in another area of the facility that were suspected to have sources that were very well shielded. All four sources (shields) were taken to the service provider's facility. The service provider removed the 4 sources. The service provider reached out to other individuals in an attempt to identify the manufacturer. It was determined that the sources were made by 3M and sold to Ronan Engineering, who then sold them to a DuPont plant in Wilmington, NC in 1992. The North Carolina program was contacted, and they reported that license was terminated in April of 2014. The sources were sent to a facility in South Carolina. The South Carolina program was contacted, and they provided a document showing the sources had been transferred to a Texas licensee in Sugar Land, Texas. The Texas licensee closed its facility and shipped all the sources they had for disposal. The last shipment of sources with this activity level was shipped from that facility in March of 2019. The contractor used to dispose of the sources has been contacted and will attempt to determine how the sources could have ended up at the scrap yard. The Department will provide updated information as it is received. Texas Incident Number: 10058 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 |
| Where | |
|---|---|
| Arsham Metal Recycling Llc Houston, Texas (NRC Region 4) | |
| Organization: | Texas Dept Of State Health Services |
| Reporting | |
| Agreement State | |
| Time - Person (Reporting Time:+1041.17 h43.382 days <br />6.197 weeks <br />1.426 months <br />) | |
| Opened: | Art Tucker 16:10 Nov 28, 2023 |
| NRC Officer: | Kerby Scales |
| Last Updated: | Nov 28, 2023 |
| 56873 - NRC Website | |
Arsham Metal Recycling Llc with Agreement State | |
WEEKMONTHYEARENS 568732023-10-16T06:00:00016 October 2023 06:00:00
[Table view]Agreement State Found Gauges 2023-10-16T06:00:00 | |