Protecting People and the EnvironmentUNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
ACCESSION #: 9509130222
SENTINEL
Amersham Corporation
40 North Avenue
Burlington, MA 01803
tel (617) 272-2000
8 September 1995 tel (800) 225-1383
fax (617) 273-2216
Document Control Desk
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Amersham
Washington, DC 20555 QSA
Dear Sir or Madam:
Amersham is reporting a potential Part 21 defect in accordance with 10CFR
21.21. This interim report concerns a model 899 drive cable connector
that pulled off the drive cable.
The potential defect is related to the model 899 drive cable connector
pulling off the drive cable during radiographic operations at a Dayton
X-Ray facility. The drive cable was used with a Gamma Century exposure
device and a model 899 style source assembly. The device had been in use
and upon retracting the source into the device on the last exposure the
drive cable connector became detached from the drive cable. No source
retrieval was performed since the disconnect occurred after returning the
source to the fully shielded position. The customer states that there
were no unusual occurrences with this equipment.
The drive cable (but not the male connector) was returned to Amersham for
evaluation. A preliminary review of the equipment was made on 19 Dec
1994 on the cable without the rest of the equipment involved. Attempts
were made to try and obtain the rest of the involved equipment for full
evaluation. These attempts were unsuccessful and it was determined on 10
July 95 to try and perform the Part 21 evaluation based on the drive
cable component alone. Since that time, preliminary investigation into
this issue has included:
1. An examination of the drive cable which showed no obvious signs of
damage, however, since the male connector was not available for
review failure due to connector damage cannot be completely ruled
out. The drive cable sleeve attached to the end of the drive cable
showed evidence that the connector had been swaged onto the drive
cable.
2. The drive cable did not shoot any signs of excessive age and had
been fabricated at the Amersham facility in Burlington, MA. The
exact age of the drive cable could not be determined based on our
review, however, it was manufactured under our QA program and
successfully passed a 125 pound pull test upon completion of the
swage.
3. We did not receive the male connector, exposure device, source
assembly, control housings or guide tubes used in conjunction with
this event, so no determinations as to their impact and\or effect
relating to this failure could be made.
4. Some additional testing has been done regarding hypothetical
fabrication scenarios, but no conclusive results have surfaced as to
the cause of this drive cable connector failure.
We are reviewing all similar drive cable occurrences to determine if any
related information is applicable to the potential causes for this
occurrence. Also we are performing some additional testing of connector
swages using worst case tolerances and undergoing potential field related
use with Century type equipment to determine what if any impact these
results might have related to this occurrence. Until this testing is
complete we cannot make a full Part 21 determination.
We expect to have those results by the end of November 95, I will update
you on the evaluation's completion shortly thereafter. Please contact me
if you require any additional information.
Sincerely,
Cathleen Roughan
Regulatory Affairs Manager
cc: Mr. Francis Costello
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Region I
475 Allendale Road
King of Prussia, PA 19406
Mr. Steve Baggett
Sealed Source Safety Section
Source Containment and Devices Branch
Division of Industrial and Medical Safety, NMSS
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
1 White Flint North
11555 Rockville Pike
Rockville, Maryland 20852
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