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radiography "hat trick"
Please see the attached events from the NRC's "Event Notification Report
for August 29, 2002."
A single radiography licensee reported 3 whole body overexposures: (1)
For 2001, the licensee reported 2 overexposures of 5181mrems and 5408
mrems. Apparently, these were due to a less than adequate exposure
tracking system. (2) A licensee employee incurred a whole body exposure
of 20,864 mrems for the period July 10, 2002 to July 9, 2002. Although
there is some question about the validity of the exposure, since the RSO
stated that the employee frequently left his badge exposed to a source,
an assessment by the dosimetry vendor confirmed the validity of the
exposures.
The usual types of questions:
(1) Why did it take 2 overexposures for the licensee to consider
improving its tracking system? Where were the regulator's?
(2) Why did the licensee tolerate an employee who, "constantly
misplaced his Landauer badge and would later find it in the area where
they were performing radiography."
(3) When will the NRC start taking radiography seriously?
The opinions expressed are strictly mine.
It's not about dose, it's about trust.
Curies forever.
Bill Lipton
liptonw@dteenergy.com
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|General Information or Other |Event Number:
39146 |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| REP ORG: LOUISIANA RADIATION PROTECTION DIV |NOTIFICATION DATE:
08/23/2002|
|LICENSEE: GONZALES INDUSTRIAL X-RAY, INC. |NOTIFICATION TIME:
14:00[EDT]|
| CITY: PRAIRIEVILLE REGION: 4 |EVENT DATE:
08/23/2002|
| COUNTY: STATE: LA |EVENT
TIME: [CDT]|
|LICENSE#: LA-4641-L01 AGREEMENT: Y |LAST UPDATE DATE:
08/23/2002|
| DOCKET:
|+----------------------------+
| |PERSON
ORGANIZATION |
| |WILLIAM JOHNSON
R4 |
| |FRED BROWN
NMSS |
+------------------------------------------------+
|
| NRC NOTIFIED BY: SCOTT BLACKWELL
| |
| HQ OPS OFFICER: STEVE SANDIN
| |
+------------------------------------------------+
|
|EMERGENCY CLASS: NON EMERGENCY
| |
|10 CFR SECTION:
| |
|NAGR AGREEMENT STATE
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
EVENT TEXT
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| AGREEMENT STATE REPORT INVOLVING OVEREXPOSURE OF TWO RADIOGRAPHERS
DURING |
|
2001
|
|
|
| "Event Report ID No.:
LA020009 |
|
|
| "Event Date and Time: January
2002 |
|
|
| "Event Location: Gonzales Industrial X-ray in Prairieville,
LA |
|
|
| "Event Type:
Overexposure |
| "Notifications: The LDEQ received a letter from the facility on
August 23, |
|
2002.
|
|
|
| "Event Description: Two industrial radiographers received an
excessive |
| exposure for the year 2001. [One Radiographer] received a dose of 5181
mrem |
| and [the other] received a dose of 5408 mrem. These two employees
utilize |
| Ir-192 for radiography jobs. The procedures have been changed to
prevent |
| this type of occurrence. The facility has started a computerized
database |
| that will track the exposure levels daily and monthly for each
employee." |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|General Information or Other |Event Number:
39147 |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| REP ORG: LOUISIANA RADIATION PROTECTION DIV |NOTIFICATION DATE:
08/23/2002|
|LICENSEE: GONZALES INDUSTRIAL X-RAYS, INC. |NOTIFICATION TIME:
14:00[EDT]|
| CITY: PRAIRIEVILLE REGION: 4 |EVENT DATE:
08/23/2002|
| COUNTY: STATE: LA |EVENT
TIME: [CDT]|
|LICENSE#: LA-4641-L01 AGREEMENT: Y |LAST UPDATE DATE:
08/23/2002|
| DOCKET:
|+----------------------------+
| |PERSON
ORGANIZATION |
| |WILLIAM JOHNSON
R4 |
| |FRED BROWN
NMSS |
+------------------------------------------------+
|
| NRC NOTIFIED BY: SCOTT BLACKWELL
| |
| HQ OPS OFFICER: STEVE SANDIN
| |
+------------------------------------------------+
|
|EMERGENCY CLASS: NON EMERGENCY
| |
|10 CFR SECTION:
| |
|NAGR AGREEMENT STATE
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
EVENT TEXT
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| AGREEMENT STATE REPORT INVOLVING OVEREXPOSURE OF RADIOGRAPHY
COMPANY |
|
EMPLOYEE
|
|
|
| "Event Report ID No.:
LA020010 |
|
|
| "Event Date and Time: June 10, 2002 to July 9,
2002 |
|
|
| "Event Location: Gonzales Industrial X-ray in Prairieville,
LA |
|
|
| "Event type:
Overexposure |
| "Notifications: The LDEQ received a letter from the facility on
August 23, |
|
2002.
|
|
|
| "Event description: [An employee] received an overexposure of 20864
mrem |
| from June 10, 2002 to July 9, 2002. In the letter received from
Ronald |
| Williams, Sr. (RSO), it was stated that [the employee] had
constantly |
| misplaced his Landauer badge and would later find it in the area where
they |
| were performing radiography. In another instance [the employee] left
his |
| Landauer badge in equipment bag while it was adjacent to the camera.
The |
| facility requested an investigation by Landauer to see if the exposure
was |
| accurate. Landauer stated that the badge was assessed again and judged
to be |
| accurate. [The employee's] daily dosimeter readings were recorded, but
never |
| went off
scale." |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
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