AGREEMENT STATE REPORT - LOST BRACHYTHERAPY SOURCES
"At approximately 9:00 AM the Agency was informed by [DELETED] Walter Boswell Memorial Hospital that on 8/14/2007 at approximately 4:30 PM, two seeds of Iodine 125 were discovered missing in the operating room number 10. Originally, 9 seeds were taken to surgery by a nuclear medicine technician to be sterilized. Only 7 seeds were returned from surgery. A search was initiated and the results were negative. Each seed contained 0.34 millicuries of Iodine 125. The Agency dispatched a team to attempt to locate the missing sources. The seeds have not been located.
"The Agency and the Hospital continue to look for the sources.
"The U.S. NRC and FBI are being notified of this event.
"First Notice: 07-011"
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. |