[ RadSafe ] Radiography Camera Lost Out of a Truck

[Roger Helbig]

I was not aware of the NRC Event Reporting System before today when someone
(possibly on the Geiger Counter list) posted an event the link to the NRC
reports.  I had been looking for this one for months because the local
Dallas-Fort Worth TV stations reported that a "depleted uranium" box was
missing.   That made me wonder what kind of intense source was this DU box
being used as the shield for and now I know.  Now, to educate the TV station
folks that DU boxes are not threats, that was inside of them is.  This was a
Category 2 source which could have caused a fatality if drastically
mishandled.

 

Roger Helbig

 


General Information or Other

Event Number: 43822


Rep Org: TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
Licensee: DESERT INDUSTRIAL X-RAY LP
Region: 4
City: SAGINAW State: TX
County: TARRANT
License #: L04590-008
Agreement: Y
Docket: 
NRC Notified By: LATISCHA HANSON
HQ OPS Officer: JEFF ROTTON 

Notification Date: 12/03/2007
Notification Time: 23:13 [ET]
Event Date: 12/03/2007
Event Time: 21:00 [CST]
Last Update Date: 12/04/2007 


Emergency Class: NON EMERGENCY
10 CFR Section: 
AGREEMENT STATE

Person (Organization): 
MICHAEL HAY (R4)
DENNIS RATHBUN (FSME)
JEFFREY CRUZ (IRD)
BENJAMIN SANDLER (ILTA)
MIKE INZER (DHS)
MIKE SMITH (DOE)
MIKE LAFORTY (FEMA)
THREET (EPA)
JIMENEZ (USDA)
KELLEHER (HHS)

 


This material event contains a "Category 2" level of radioactive material. 

Event Text 


AGREEMENT STATE REPORT - LOST RADIOGRAPHY CAMERA 

The licensee's radiography team left the temporary jobsite with their SPEC
150 radiography camera on the tailgate. The camera contained a 24 Curie
Ir-192 source. The licensee drove approximately 15 miles down the road prior
to remembering the gauge was on the tailgate. It was then noticed that the
camera was no longer in the truck. The licensee team is retracing their
route in search of the camera and will be contacting the Tarrant County
Sheriff's Department to aid in the search. The licensee is not sure if the
camera had been secured properly prior to driving down the highway. The
route taken was from Tinsley Lane to North Business 287 in Saginaw, TX
towards Justin, TX in Tarrant County. 

Notified NORTHCOM and Mexico via email. 

Texas Report TX-07-43822 

*** UPDATE FROM TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH (JISHA) TO HOWIE CROUCH AT 0743
ON 12/04/07 *** 

The SPEC 150 radiography camera was recovered at 0633 CST. A member of the
public found the camera and placed it in the back of his private vehicle.
Upon hearing about the lost source on the local news this morning, the
citizen turned the camera over to the Fort Worth Fire Department. The camera
appears intact and undamaged. Texas Department of Health is responding to
the fire department to conduct a survey and inspection of the camera. No
overexposures are expected. 

Notified DHS (Haselton), DOE (Parsons), FEMA (Burckart), USDA (Watts), HHS
(Garcia), EPA (Johnson), Mexico (via email), NORTHCOM (via email), R4DO
(Hay), FSME EO (Burgess) and ILTAB (Sandler). 

THIS MATERIAL EVENT CONTAINS A "CATEGORY 2" LEVEL OF RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL 

Category 2 sources, if not safely managed or securely protected, could cause
permanent injury to a person who handled them, or were otherwise in contact
with them, for a short time (minutes to hours). It could possibly be fatal
to be close to this amount of unshielded radioactive material for a period
of hours to days. These sources are typically used in practices such as
industrial gamma radiography, high dose rate brachytherapy and medium dose
rate brachytherapy.