U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Region III Office of Public Affairs

801 Warrenville Road, Lisle, IL 60532-4351

NEWS ANNOUNCEMENT: RIII-97-68 July 28, 1997

CONTACT: Jan Strasma 630/829-9663

Angela Dauginas 630/829-9662

E-mail: opa3@nrc.gov

$2,500 FINE AGAINST BLUE SPRINGS, MISSOURI, HOSPITAL FOR

DELIBERATE VIOLATIONS OF NRC REQUIREMENTS

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has proposed a

$2,500 fine against St. Mary's Hospital of Blue Springs, Blue

Springs, Missouri, for deliberately failing to perform some

radiation surveys and tests.

The fine is based on the findings of an NRC inspection late

last year. The inspection findings and a subsequent

predecisional enforcement conference with the hospital in May

determined that violations of NRC requirements occurred between

July and September of last year.

The NRC inspector noted that on certain dates, particularly

on weekends, calibration tests were not being performed as

required. Daily tests are required on dose calibrators which are

used to verify radiopharmaceutical doses received at the

hospital. Since St. Mary's receives precalibrated unit doses

from a nuclear pharmacy, there is little likelihood that an

improper dose was administered when the dose calibrator was not

checked for accuracy.

Also cited was the failure by hospital staff to conduct the

required radiation surveys of work areas and packages that were

received from the nuclear pharmacy. During several weekends,

radiation surveys were not performed at the end of the day in the

areas where radiopharmaceuticals were used or administered to

patients. Surveys were, however, conducted on weekdays. The NRC

inspector, while at St. Mary's, conducted confirmatory surveys

which did not detect any areas of contamination.

There were three instances when a package was received at

the hospital from the nuclear pharmacy containing

radiopharmaceuticals and radiation surveys were not conducted.

NRC requires that upon receipt of such a package, surface and

area surveys are to be conducted by hospital staff to insure no

contamination is present.
In a letter to St. Mary's, NRC's Regional Administrator, A.

Bill Beach said:

"...the nuclear medicine technologist failed to perform

tests and procedures required by [your] license through

complacency, rather than through mistake or error. In this case,

the technologist was knowledgeable of the requirements and knew

how to perform the tests, but failed as a result of complacency

to fulfill the requirements, particularly when working on the

weekends. Violations involving careless disregard are considered

willful and are of significant concern because the NRC's

regulatory programs are based on licensees and their employees

acting with integrity."

Following the NRC inspection and predecisional enforcement

conference, St. Mary's instituted a monthly review of the

technologist's work by the radiation safety officer and increased

the time spent by the radiation safety officer attending to

radiation safety program activities.

The hospital has until August 22 to pay the fine or to

protest it. If the fine is protested and subsequently imposed by

the NRC staff, the hospital may request a hearing.

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