ENS 55326
ENS Event | |
|---|---|
22:00 Jun 24, 2021 | |
| Title | Unplanned Contamination to an Individual |
| Event Description | The following synopsis was received via phone call from the licensee's Radiation Safety Officer (RSO):
At 1800 EDT on June 24, 2021 at the licensee facility, an employee left the work site unaware that he was contaminated on his skin and his clothing. The only places the individual traveled to were his car and his home before being called back to work at 1924 EDT to investigate the contamination event. When the individual came back to the facility, contamination was found on his hand including Sr-82, Sr-85, Rb-83, and Rb-84. The activity was 600,000 counts or 0.18 micro curies. Dose calculations have not been performed, however, the RSO does not believe the dose will be near any federal limits. The work area has been decontaminated and the individual's car has been surveyed and no contamination was found. The licensee plans to survey the individual's home as well as contact the NRC Region 3 materials inspector. The licensee is reporting the event under both 30.50(a) and 30.50(b)(1) as a precaution as more data is being collected.
The following information was received via E-mail: On June 24, 2021, at approximately 1800 EDT, Curium-Noblesville RSO became aware of a radioactive spill in a restricted (production) area. The spill occurred behind the production hot cells. The affected area is designated as a triple shoe cover area and cordoned to limit access. The RSO directed a Radiation Safety Technician to respond to and initiate the investigation and data collection. The Radiation Safety Technician performed contamination surveys and found a maximum count rate of 800,000 cpm. The Radiation Safety Technician subsequently remediated the spill to 70,000 cpm (below the administrative level of 100,000 cpm) within minutes of completing the survey. The spill initiated when a Chemist tried to manually un-crimp a vial containing approximately 695 mCi of Sr-82 and 703 mCi of Sr-85. As the the Chemist tried to un-crimp the vial, the glass below the crimp broke leading to a few drops to fall on the concrete floor behind the hot cells. During the initial investigation surveys, the RSO discovered that the production batch record was contaminated. This prompted the RSO to find the Chemist to ensure he was free of contamination. The RSO discovered that the Chemist had already left the site. The RSO immediately contacted the Director of Health Physics for assistance. They made the decision to bring the Chemist onsite for a survey. The RSO discovered that the Chemist's work clothes presented spots reading approximately 600,000 cpm on contact with the pants and 200,000 with the shirt. The RSO also found contamination on the right hand reading approximately 34,000 cpm. Because the Chemist had left the site, the RSO surveyed the Chemist's car and did not identify contamination above background levels. The RSO communicated the findings to the Director of Health Physics and initiated the decontamination activities for the Chemist. Prior to decontaminating the Chemist's hand, the RSO obtained a gamma spectrum to identify the radioactive contaminants. He found a mixture of Sr-82, Sr-85, Rb-83 and Rb-84. The Director of Health Physics reviewed the notification requirements prescribed in Part 20 and Part 30 and escalated the event to Curium management and legal teams. Curium made the decision to proactively report the event to the NRC Operations Center under 10 CFR 30.50(a) given that the notification was required within 4 hours4.62963e-5 days <br />0.00111 hours <br />6.613757e-6 weeks <br />1.522e-6 months <br /> of discovery and Curium had not acquired enough data to verify if any regulatory limit was exceeded or not. After the notification, the RSO stopped the decontamination activities after no further contamination was being removed. The RSO measured a residual contamination of 4,200 cpm on the hand. He then followed the Chemist to his home and performed a contamination survey of the areas in which the Chemist indicated that he had been present after leaving the work site that day. The RSO found no contamination above background levels. The Director of Health Physics performed an initial dose estimate on June 25, 2021. The RSO used Rb-84 as the most restrictive nuclide that yielded the highest dose in the mixture. The estimates indicated that the Chemist received approximately 1,203 mrem to the maximally exposed shallow dose equivalent (extremity), 636 mrem shallow dose equivalent (whole body) and 13 mrem deep dose equivalent. The RSO performed 24-hour urinalysis and did not find the presence of the radionuclides. All license material was accounted for. Curium personnel discussed the incident with NRC Region-III on June 25, 2021. Curium is in the process of completing formal root cause analysis. Notified R3DO (Stone) and the NMSS Events Notification E-mail group.
The following retraction is a summary received from the licensee via phone: As part of an internal investigation, the licensee determined that neither the employee nor any member of the public received any exposure exceeding regulatory limits. The licensee will notify the NRC Region 3. Notified R3DO (Pelke) and NMSS Events Notification via email. |
| Where | |
|---|---|
| Curium Pharma Noblesville, Indiana (NRC Region 3) | |
| License number: | 13-35179-03 |
| Organization: | Curium Pharma |
| Reporting | |
| 10 CFR 30.50(a) | |
| Time - Person (Reporting Time:+-0.07 h-0.00292 days <br />-4.166667e-4 weeks <br />-9.5886e-5 months <br />) | |
| Opened: | Matthew Tressner 21:56 Jun 24, 2021 |
| NRC Officer: | Brian P. Smith |
| Last Updated: | Jul 20, 2021 |
| 55326 - NRC Website | |
Curium Pharma with 10 CFR 30.50(a) | |
WEEKMONTHYEARENS 553262021-06-24T22:00:00024 June 2021 22:00:00
[Table view]10 CFR 30.50(a) Unplanned Contamination to an Individual 2021-06-24T22:00:00 | |