No. IV-12-025

Contact: Victor Dricks (817) 200-1128

 Lara Uselding (817) 200-1519

 July 2, 2012 

 E-Mail: OPA4.Resource@nrc.gov

NRC PROPOSES $8,500 FINE AGAINST UNITED STATES AIR FORCE 

WRIGHT PATTERSON MEDICAL CENTER

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has proposed fining the United States Air Force 

(USAF) Wright Patterson Medical Center in Dayton, Ohio, $8,500 for the loss of a small sealed 

radioactive source used in conjunction with a portable nuclear medical gamma camera. 

In October 2011, the NRC conducted an inspection when it was notified that a small 

amount of sealed americium-241, the size of a grain of rice, was missing from a locked storage 

container. When in service, the sealed source is attached to a wand used to mark areas of interest 

on images captured using a medical gamma camera. Inspectors found that Air Force staff had 

been verifying that the storage container was locked but not doing a visual check to ensure the 

source was present. This practice occurred between Nov. 2004 and Sep. 2011 until an employee 

noticed that the material was missing. 

The USAF received a notice of violation for failure to conduct semiannual inventory of a 

sealed medical source and the failure to properly secure the source. The NRC considers the loss 

of radioactive material, no matter how small, a safety and security concern. Therefore, the NRC 

has classified these violations as a Severity Level III. Severity level I represents the greatest 

significance and severity level IV the lowest level.

In a March 5 letter to the NRC, the USAF accepted the violations and outlined the 

corrective actions it had taken to include searches of all storage locations in the facility, reviews 

of all inventory documents, and interviews with past radiation safety officers in an effort to 

locate the missing source. Also, the USAF has imposed long-term corrective actions to include 

making a photographic inventory of all radioactive sources; improved record keeping; and 

annual radiation safety training for all nuclear medicine staff with emphasis on properly securing 

and conducting inventory of radioactive material. 

Because the licensee has had no prior violations and because it took prompt and effective 

corrective actions, the NRC is issuing the base penalty of $8,500 due to the loss of a sealed 

source. There is no reason to believe that malicious intent was involved and does not pose a 

significant safety risk to the public.

NRC NEWS

U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Office of Public Affairs Region IV

 1600 E. Lamar Blvd.

 Arlington, TX 76011-4511

Telephone: (817) 860-8100

Site: www.nrc.gov Blog: http://public-blog.nrc-gateway.gov
Copies of the enforcement actions will be posted on the NRC web site at:

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/enforcement/actions. The results of the NRC 

inspection can be found in Inspection Report 030-28641/11-006 and ADAMS Accession 

Number ML12101A057. 

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