NRC STAFF PROPOSES $6,000 FINE AGAINST MICHIGAN COMPANY
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The company is licensed by the NRC to use radiographic devices which use radioactive material to make x-ray like images of heavy metal objects, like pumps, valves and pipes.

During an inspection, conducted in April and May, NRC inspectors found that a radiographer, employed by the company, locked a radiography camera inside the bed of a truck, which was taken for maintenance. However, a company employee left the key to this storage area and to the ignition with the dealership, thus providing unauthorized personnel with access to nuclear material in the bed of the truck. The violation continued for seven days until it was identified by an NRC inspector.

In addition, the employee removed the shipping papers, which contain the required information about the nuclear material, including its proper packaging, labeling and marking. As a result, the dealership’s staff unknowingly transported the device containing radioactive material during the seven-day period the truck was being serviced. The dealership’s staff was not trained or authorized to handle nuclear material, and, in case of an accident involving this material, they would not have been able to offer an appropriate emergency response.

In his letter to the company, the NRC’s Region III Deputy Regional Administrator James L. Caldwell emphasized that even though the two violations did not have actual consequences, the failure to adequately secure NRC-licensed material and to have shipping papers in the vehicle transporting this material constitute a “significant safety issue.”

The company’s corrective actions include issuing a letter to all radiography staff instructing them on proper procedures for handling and transporting NRC-licensed material and asking each employee to sign a statement acknowledging that they understand these procedures and would follow them in the future.

The company has until September 12 to either pay the fine or to protest it. If the fine is protested and subsequently imposed by the NRC staff, the company may request a hearing.

The letter to the company is available from the Region III Office of Public Affairs or online at: http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/regulatory/enforcement/current.html#materials. The inspection report can be viewed at: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/web-based.html by entering accession number ML031350549. Assistance in using the web-based document collection is available by calling the NRC Public Document Room at 800-397-4209.

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Monday, December 08, 2008