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Event Notification Report for August 06, 2021

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Operations Center

EVENT REPORTS FOR
08/05/2021 - 08/06/2021

EVENT NUMBERS
5540155446
Agreement State
Event Number: 55401
Rep Org: CALIFORNIA RADIATION CONTROL PRGM
Licensee: Envirocheck
Region: 4
City: San Jose   State: CA
County:
License #: General License
Agreement: Y
Docket:
NRC Notified By: Kamani Hewadikaram
HQ OPS Officer: Kerby Scales
Notification Date: 08/10/2021
Notification Time: 12:49 [ET]
Event Date: 08/06/2021
Event Time: 00:00 [PDT]
Last Update Date: 08/10/2021
Emergency Class: Non Emergency
10 CFR Section:
Agreement State
Person (Organization):
KELLAR, RAY (R4)
NMSS_EVENTS_NOTIFICATION, (EMAIL)
ILTAB, (EMAIL)
CNSNS (MEXICO), - (EMAIL)
Event Text
EN Revision Imported Date: 9/10/2021

EN Revision Text: AGREEMENT STATE REPORT - STOLEN XRF ANALYZER

The following report was received from the state of California via email:

"On 08/06/21, California Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) contacted Radiologic Health Branch (RHB) to report an incident involving loss of a Thermo Fisher Scientific, Niton X fill P 300 series XRF analyzer, Model XLP 300, S/N: 91800. The unit was resourced in May 2018 with 40 milliCi of Cd-109, with current activity of 6.7 milliCi. The XRF unit was taken from one of their employee's vehicle parked at his residence in San Jose, CA. A police report has been filed with the San Jose PD (report # is not available at this time). RHB will be following up with this investigation."


California ID Number: 5010 - 080621


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


Agreement State
Event Number: 55446
Rep Org: NEW MEXICO RAD CONTROL PROGRAM
Licensee: CHRISTUS St. Vincent Regional Medical Center
Region: 4
City: Santa Fe   State: NM
County:
License #: General License
Agreement: Y
Docket:
NRC Notified By: Carl Sullivan
HQ OPS Officer: Donald Norwood
Notification Date: 09/07/2021
Notification Time: 12:30 [ET]
Event Date: 08/06/2021
Event Time: 00:00 [MDT]
Last Update Date: 09/07/2021
Emergency Class: Non Emergency
10 CFR Section:
Agreement State
Person (Organization):
TAYLOR, NICK (R4)
NMSS_EVENTS_NOTIFICATION, (EMAIL)
ILTAB, (EMAIL)
CNSNS (MEXICO) (EMAIL)
Event Text
EN Revision Imported Date: 10/7/2021

EN Revision Text: AGREEMENT STATE REPORT - LOST AMPULES FROM A TRITIUM EXIT SIGN

The following is a synopsis of information received via E-mail:

This event was originally reported via phone to the New Mexico Radiation Control Bureau on August 6, 2021.

This incident involved a double sided (2 sign faces) tritium exit sign. Specific details of the sign are: Radioactive Material: Tritium (H-3), Quantity: 7.5 Ci per sign face, Chemical and Physical form: Gas, Manufacturer: Sign Tex Inc.

This sign was located outside of the hospital building. The sign was damaged, and was then cleaned up by facilities and placed in a trash receptacle. The staff member who cleaned up the sign was confident that none of the glass ampules were broken and that all pieces were collected. The incident was then reported to the Safety Officer and the sign was removed from the waste bin. The Safety Officer then reported the sign to the RSO [Radiation Safety Officer] for guidance on how to properly dispose of the sign. Upon evaluation of the sign it was discovered that a part of one of the sign faces was missing. This piece includes the ampules which make up the letter "T" and an arrow (3 tubes total) of the sign. In addition, the sign casing was reported as missing. The activity information noted above was received from the sign manufacturer based off of the part number listed on the Order Acknowledgement document. The order date was reported as August 23, 2017. As there is no observable original date for the H-3, no decay correction was made in order to be conservative. It is currently assumed that the casing and the missing piece were disposed of, and due to the radiological properties, the piece was not detected by any waste radiation monitors. All remaining pieces of the sign are intact and were observed to glow, confirming that the ampules are not leaking.





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