Home > Electronic Reading Room > Document Collections > News Releases > 1997 > III-97-056

	NRC NEWS U. S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, REGION III 801 Warrenville Road, Lisle IL 60532
	CONTACT:	Jan Strasma (630) 829-9663/e-mail: rjs2@nrc.gov
		Angela Dauginas (630) 829-9662/e-mail: opa3@nrc.gov

NEWS ANNOUNCEMENT: RIII-97-56

June 11, 1997

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has proposed a $2,750 fine against Indianapolis Department of Capital Asset Management, Indianapolis, Indiana, for radiation safety program violations.

An NRC inspection in March found numerous radiation safety program violations associated with the Department's use of nuclear gauges. The Department has several portable gauges containing small amounts of radioactive material that are used for measuring moisture and density of construction material at temporary job sites.

The violations included: use of a gauge by an unauthorized person; failure to perform required leak tests; lack of shipping documentation during a transport; transfer of a gauge to an unauthorized recipient; failure to maintain adequate gauge transfer records; failure to perform required inventories; storage of gauges in an unauthorized location; and failure to update the NRC license to reflect the Department's name change.

Since the inspection, the Department requires written authorization by the radiation safety officer of designated nuclear gauge users and stores the gauges in a secured, authorized facility.

In a letter to the agency, NRC's Regional Administrator, A. Bill Beach said:

"The root cause of the violations appears to be a fundamental lack of oversight by the radiation safety officer and by management particularly in light of [the Department's] contractual arrangements of permitting other firms to perform tests using [the Department's] licensed material. In addition, the fact that these violations were identified by NRC further confirms the apparent deficiencies in the control of the program."

Indianapolis Department of Capital Asset Management has until June 29 to pay the fine or to protest it. If the fine is protested and subsequently imposed by the NRC staff, the Department may request a hearing.