Lab Won’t Be Penalized by DOE for Technetium-99 Contamination Incident
NS&D Monitor
9/26/2014
Sandia National Laboratories will not be penalized for a contamination incident earlier this year at its Tomography and Radionuclide Transport Laboratory, the Department of Energy’s Office of Enforcement said this week. In a Sept. 22 letter to Sandia Director Paul Hommert, Office of Enforcement Director Steven Simonson admonished the lab because there was the “potential for adverse consequences to Sandia personnel” stemming from the January contamination incident involving technetium-99 that was found on a workbench and the floor of a small radiological laboratory in Building 823 at the lab after a scientist conducted unanalyzed and unauthorized work with the material. Simonson also said the lab’s safety barriers were “ineffective in preventing” the unanalyzed and unauthorized work from occurring.
However, the Office of Enforcement also acknowledged that the contamination did not spread outside the Radiological Buffer Area and no workers were contaminated, technetium-99 is a relatively low energy radionuclide, and Sandia took actions after the event to prevent a recurrence of the incident in choosing not to penalize the laboratory. “The Office of Enforcement considers processes to properly evaluate and approve research with radionuclides essential to protecting workers from the potential harm posed by exposure to these materials,” Simonson wrote. “While no actual safety consequences resulted from the unauthorized work with Tc-99 in the B59B laboratory, the potential for adverse consequences to Sandia personnel was present from the spread of contamination and resultant potential for radiological exposure, and because Sandia’s safety barriers proved ineffective in preventing the unanalyzed and unauthorized work.”
According to Simonson, a Sandia principal investigator began working with technetium-99 in the laboratory in October 2013, but the Technical Work Document governing the operations did not analyze work with quantities of technitium-99 in excess of 100 micro-curies. The investigator also admitted to not reading the TWD. Contamination was detected in the B59B laboratory of the Tomography and Radionuclide Transport Laboratory twice, once on Oct. 29, 2013, and again on Jan. 15, 2014, though no workers were exposed, according to lab and DOE officials.
Lab: No Risk to Public, Workers or Environment
Sandia spokesman Jim Danneskiold said the lab contracted with a radioactive decontamination company to clean the lab and has reopened the facility. He said beta contamination with technetium-99 was discovered in a tray on a workbench that exceeded levels specified in that lab’s TWD. Lower contamination levels were found on the floor and workbench, he said. “Sandia safety and radiation experts investigated the cause of the event to prevent recurrence and determined there is no risk to the health and safety of the public, Sandia workers or the environment,” he said in a statement emailed to NS&D Monitor.
It remains unclear how the contamination occurred, which the Office of Enforcement said called into question the success of the corrective actions. “The causal analysis and corrective actions may not be appropriately directed to prevent recurrence,” Simonson wrote. “This is particularly pertinent with regard to communication among the PI [principal investigator], his management, and responsible radiation protection staff regarding changes to the TWD.”
