The following information was received via fax:
During an inspection of the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans it was discovered that a Hewlett-Packard Gas Chromatograph, model number 18713A, with 15 mCi of Ni-63 foil could not be located. According to the inventory, it was placed into storage in 1995, but it could not be inventoried in December 2005 due to Hurricane damage to the storage facility. The facility tried to locate the GC around June 2006, but could not locate the unit. The facility failed to notify the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality of the missing GC and has been cited. This incident is under investigation. The NRC will be notified of any additional information once it is received.
Event Report ID No.: LA060018
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.
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