Emergency Procedures and Accident Response
Priorities
Stop work, keep people out, notify the RSO, and establish boundaries with a survey meter. Typical events: source fails to retract, source disconnect, damaged device, fire, lost or stolen source, or an unplanned exposure. In every case the sequence is protect people, control the area, then recover with proper tools and shielding.
Do not re-enter to retrieve equipment, do not handle a source with your hands, and do not pull a disconnected drive cable back through a guide tube. Use remote handling tools and portable shielding, minimize time, and maximize distance. Anyone who may have been exposed receives medical evaluation; contaminated clothing is not removed casually before surveying.
Reporting: theft or loss of licensed material, and incidents involving doses above regulatory criteria, require immediate telephone notification to the NRC or Agreement State with a written follow-up report. Notification is never delayed while internal review continues.
Traps
Assuming a crank returning to the shielded position means the source is back. Using a possibly saturated meter to set a boundary. Delaying notification. Forgetting post-accident dosimetry and area surveys.
Worked example
A 50 Ci Ir-192 source is disconnected and unshielded; a worker is 2 m away for 3 minutes. At 1 m the rate is 50 x 0.48 = 24 R/h; at 2 m it is 24/4 = 6 R/h. Three minutes = 0.05 h, so the dose is 6 x 0.05 = 0.3 R (300 mrem). That estimate drives the medical referral and the report.