May 6, 2016

Review of Management and Accountability of Sealed Radioactive Sources Maintained at Department Sites

The Department of Energy facilities use sealed radioactive sources for medical and scientific testing and calibration of radiation detection instrumentation.  A sealed source is radioactive material that is enclosed in a capsule or bonded to a nonradioactive material in order to prevent leakage or escape of radioactive material.  Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 835, Occupational Radiation Protection, establishes criteria for managing a radiation protection program, including requirements for controlling and protecting sealed sources.  In 2002, we issued a report titled Inspection of the Accountability and Control of Sealed Radioactive Sources at Selected Department of Energy Sites (DOE/IG-0544, March 12, 2002), which identified several examples of lack of adherence to either CFR requirements or local site requirements and procedures.  Specifically, the identified examples included a sealed source that had not been leak tested or inventoried since May 2000, missing documentation, and a source custodian who had not taken refresher radiation safety training, as required.  We initiated this inspection as a followup to our prior report to determine whether the sealed sources at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) are managed in a safe and secure manner.

Nothing came to our attention to indicate that LANL and PNNL were not properly managing sealed sources that we selected for review.  Both sites had controls in place to manage and account for sealed sources included in our review.  Although we identified some administrative errors, we found that the errors were not material to the safe and secure management of the sealed sources.  When these errors were bought to management’s attention, they immediately resolved the issues.

Topic: Management & Administration