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NRC NEWS U. S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, REGION IV 611 Ryan Plaza Drive, Suite 400, Arlington TX 76011

NRC PROPOSES $2,750 FINE FOR SYNCOR INTERNATIONAL CORP.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has proposed a $2,750 civil penalty for Syncor International Corp., a supplier of radioactive pharmaceuticals for hospitals and medical clinics with headquarters in Woodland Hills, Calif., for safety violations that allowed a package of radioactive material to fall from a delivery truck in July last year.

The incident took place near Syncor facilities in Newburgh, New York, when a package containing an 850-millicurie molybdenum-99/technetium-99m radionuclide generator fell from a Syncor delivery truck traveling from the company's Stamford, Conn., facility. The driver recovered the package intact after a short time and no one was exposed to radiation.

An NRC investigation determined that a safety violation involving a failure to secure, or brace, the package inside the truck allowed the package to fall out of the truck during transit. A second violation involved a failure to assure that a door locking mechanism on the Syncor vehicle was adequate to meet NRC security requirements for radioactive material when the vehicle was left unattended for short periods of time during routine deliveries.

Both violations contributed to the incident involving temporary loss of the generator package. The second violation posed a risk of unauthorized access to or theft of material when the vehicle was left unattended.

In a letter to Syncor president Robert Funari, NRC Regional Administrator Ellis W. Merschoff said, " . . . to emphasize the importance of assuring the security of radioactive material in transit, I have been authorized . . . to issue the enclosed Notice of Violation and Proposed Imposition of Civil Penalty in the amount of $2,750 for the Severity Level III problem described above and in the Notice." The NRC rates violations on a four-level scale, with Level I being the most serious.

At a predecisional enforcement conference to discuss the violations on April 18, Syncor officials discussed corrective actions the company has taken to prevent similar problems in the future, including inspection of all trucks with similar locking mechanisms, improved driver training and increased checks by managers and auditors.

Syncor has 30 days to pay the penalty or file a protest. If the protest is denied, the company may request a hearing by the NRC.

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