ENS Event | |
|---|---|
05:00 Feb 13, 2015 | |
| Title | Germanium-68 Sources Lost During Shipment |
| Event Description | On 1/30/2015, two packages containing radioactive materials were shipped via common carrier from Nanticoke Memorial Hospital in Seaford, DE to Sanders Medical Products, Inc. in Knoxville, TN for disposal. One package arrived on 2/3/2015. The second package has not arrived, and on 2/13/2015, the second package was declared lost. The lost package contained two Germanium-68 source rods used in daily calibration of the hospital's PET scanner. Activity of the source rods was less than 0.3 millicuries each (0.6 millicuries total). Serial numbers for the source rods are: K4-124 and K4-125. The common carrier has completed a search for the lost package with negative results. The last known location of the lost package was in Harrington, DE where it was scanned on 1/30/2015.
On Monday, June 29, 2015, the lost package was returned by the common carrier to Nanticoke Memorial Hospital. The package had not been opened and was undamaged. When opened by hospital personnel, the package contained the two Germanium-68 source rods that had originally been placed in the package. When questioned, the common carrier had no explanation as to what had happened to the package and could not explain where the package had been or even how it came to be returned to the hospital. The hospital plans to repackage the source rods and ship them via a different common carrier to Sanders Medical Products in the near future. Notified R1DO (Dimitriadis) and ILTAB (Johnson) and via E-mail, NMSS Events Notification. 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 | |
|---|---|
| Nanticoke Memorial Hospital Seaford, Delaware (NRC Region 1) | |
| License number: | 07-17618-01 |
| Organization: | Nanticoke Memorial Hospital |
| Reporting | |
| 10 CFR 20.2201(a)(1)(ii) | |
| Time - Person (Reporting Time:+298 h12.417 days <br />1.774 weeks <br />0.408 months <br />) | |
| Opened: | Marianna Retzlaff 15:00 Feb 25, 2015 |
| NRC Officer: | Donald Norwood |
| Last Updated: | Jul 2, 2015 |
| 50849 - NRC Website | |
Nanticoke Memorial Hospital with 10 CFR 20.2201(a)(1)(ii) | |
WEEKMONTHYEARENS 508492015-02-13T05:00:00013 February 2015 05:00:00
[Table view]10 CFR 20.2201(a)(1)(ii) Germanium-68 Sources Lost During Shipment 2015-02-13T05:00:00 | |