NRC: News Release - Region I - 2003-004 - NRC Issues Confirmatory Action Letter to Union City, N.J., Medical Firm

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NRC NEWS
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Office of Public Affairs, Region I
475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pa. 19406
www.nrc.gov

No. I-03-004		February 10, 2003
CONTACT:	Diane Screnci (610) 337-5330 Neil A. Sheehan (610) 337-5331	E-mail: OPA1.Resource@nrc.gov
NRC ISSUES CONFIRMATORY ACTION LETTER TO UNION CITY, N.J., MEDICAL FIRM Printable Version
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has issued a Confirmatory Action Letter to a Union City, N.J., medical center that provides nuclear medicine services. The letter confirms the center’s agreement to halt all NRC-licensed activities until it takes several actions to adhere to agency regulations. In the letter to Union City Diagnostic Center, the NRC states that an inspector from the agency’s Region I Office visited the 48th Street facility on February 5 after the State of New Jersey informed the NRC that the center no longer had a Radiation Safety Officer. The NRC requires that medical facilities licensed by the NRC to provide nuclear medicine services have a Radiation Safety Officer to ensure that proper safety procedures are in place and followed. During that inspection, the NRC determined the center did not, in fact, have a Radiation Safety Officer and that none of the Authorized Users of nuclear medicine materials listed on the center’s license still worked there. In addition, the inspector found that the lock on the door to the “hot lab,” or the room where radioactive materials are used and stored, was broken, though no radioactive materials were determined to be missing. Union City Diagnostic Center agreed during a call with NRC staff on February 6 that it will take the following actions in response: it will immediately cease all NRC-licensed activities until it has hired a Radiation Safety Officer and an Authorized User or Users of nuclear medicine materials; it will provide the NRC with a written statement indicating that the Radiation Safety Officer and Authorized User or Users understand and are capable of carrying out required duties; it will repair the door lab door and place all radioactive materials in secure storage in that room; and it will obtain NRC’s approval before resuming licensed activities. Issuance of the Confirmatory Action Letter does not preclude the NRC from taking additional steps, including enforcement actions, for any violations of NRC requirements that are identified.
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