The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is investigating how Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC, allegedly mishandled the delivery of 1.5 Ci of molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) and 71 mCi of thallium-201 by leaving the two packages in the lobby for two days.
The deliveries took place on May 1 and were accepted and signed for by an unauthorized person who stored the radioactive isotopes in an improper location, according to an NRC report. The agency added that no one was injured from exposure to the packages.
NRC officials met with representatives from Walter Reed on September 1 to hear how the snafu occurred and what the hospital has done to prevent the incident from happening again. The NRC could impose a fine of $3,500 to $7,000 on the facility.
The hospital acknowledged that delivery was improperly handled, according to a report from the Associated Press. The report cited a Walter Reed spokesperson who said the facility has bolstered its nuclear medicine safety program and retrained its staff on how to handle deliveries of radioactive material.
The NRC classifies molybdenum-99 and thallium-201 as less than category 3 International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) sources, which means they are "very unlikely to cause permanent injury to individuals or contain a very small amount of radioactive material that would not cause any permanent injury."
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