United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Office of Public Affairs, Region I

475 Allendale Road King of Prussia, PA 19401

Phone: 610/337-5330 Fax: 610/337-5241

Internet: dps@nrc.gov or nas@nrc.gov

I-97-121 September 12, 1997

Contact: Diane Screnci FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Neil A. Sheehan

NRC CITES FIRM FOR VIOLATION INVOLVING TRANSFER OF “EXIT” SIGNS

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has cited a New

York company for a violation of agency requirements involving the

transfer and disposal of “EXIT” signs containing radioactive

material in New Jersey. No fine has been proposed against the

New York City-based Pneumo Abex Corporation.

In May, a 16-year-old boy removed three signs holding

tritium from a Union, N.J., demolition site, took them to his

home and opened one of them, exposing himself and his family’s

residence to the radioactive gas. No one suffered any adverse

health effects as a result of the incident.

However, following a predecisional enforcement conference

on July 10 with Pneumo Abex and two other companies that at

various times owned the property and therefore the signs, NRC

staff determined that Pneumo Abex had violated agency

requirements.

“This violation represents a significant NRC concern

because it ultimately contributed to the failure to appropriately

dispose of the signs, and the resultant contamination of members

of the public,” NRC Region I Administrator Hubert J. Miller wrote

in a letter to Pneumo Abex.

The signs, which are illuminated without electricity, were

purchased by Pneumo Abex in 1983 for use in the building. An NRC

inspection found that when Pneumo Abex sold the property to the

Selrite Millworks Corporation of Union, N.J., in 1987, it failed

to provide Selrite with a copy of the agency regulations that

apply to the possession of such devices. In addition, Pneumo

Abex failed to notify the NRC of the transfer of the signs.

Consequently, when Selrite sold the facility to Carco

Construction Company of Randolph, N.J., last February, Selrite

did not provide Carco with a copy of NRC guidelines regarding the

signs or inform the agency of the transfer. Afterward, Carco did

not remove the devices for proper disposal when the building at

the site was being demolished.
2

On May 10, the teen-age boy in question took the signs

from the demolition site and brought them home. While eating a

snack in his basement bedroom, he dismantled one of the signs,

breaking several tubes containing tritium. He contacted local

emergency response personnel after seeing a radioactive materials

label. Emergency personnel contacted the State of New Jersey

Department of Environmental Protection, which notified the NRC.

Estimates by the New Jersey DEP indicate the boy received

a radioactive dose of about 70 millirems, less than the

equivalent of one year of exposure to natural background

radiation, which for the average American is about 300 millirems.

Surveys of the boy’s bedroom showed moderate contamination, while

only trace amounts were found elsewhere in the house. A

contractor hired by the DEP removed the contamination from the

home.

The NRC did not fine Pneumo Abex because under the

statute of limitations, too much time had elapsed since the

violation. The NRC also noted the corrective actions taken by

the company, including the fact that Pneumo Abex has agreed to

take responsibility for disposal of the signs and to perform an

extensive review to determine if any other properties owned by

Pneumo Abex, either formerly or currently, might contain the same

type of signs.

#