Package containing four radioactive sources lost.
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Posted on: 18 December 2024
Event Date:
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13 December 2024
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Event Type:
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Transportation
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Event Location:
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Spain, Madrid Airport (Adolfo Suarez-Barajas Airport)
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INES Rating:
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1 (Final)
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On Thursday 12th December 2024, LOMA SYSTEMS S.R.O. sent from the Czech Republic a B(U) package, model NE4C, with 4 encapsulated radioactive sources of Se-75 (3.4 TBq each one), used for industrial radiography, to a radioactive facility located in Madrid. These sources are classified as category 2 according to IAEA RS-G-1.9. The package was sent from Prague airport, with ticket number AWB 797-1000 2016 of the airline TRAVEL SERVICE, A.S., on flight QS1056, which arrived at 13:05 at Madrid - Barajas Airport.
On Friday 13th, staff of the consignee went to the cargo handling facility to pick up the package and transport it by road to the radioactive facility. Once there, they were unable to pick up the package as the handling agent indicated that they had no notification of receipt of the package at their facilities and therefore did not know its location.
Throughout Friday, the consignee searched for information at the cargo at origin (Prague) and destination (Madrid) with the customs broker, freight forwarders, consignor and airline, but the result was unsuccessful.
Investigations continued on Monday 16th, December to determine the location of the package. The final conclusions of all the investigation revealed that:
- The sender stated that the flight left Prague Airport (PRG), and did not return, so the package must have been unloaded in Madrid.
- According to the Travel Service airline, the camera system at Prague airport showed Skyport PRG airport handling staff placing the package on a trolley to the aircraft. They also had a statement from a ramp worker confirming that he loaded the package into the plane.
- Skyport PRG searched its warehouse, but did not find the package.
- The carrier (Hazmatcargo) requested a search of the station (MAD), where the aircraft later flew, but the results were negative, and the package was not located.
On Monday 16th at 11:30 am, the consignee informed the CSN Emergency Room (SALEM) of the occurrence of the event according to IS-18 (instruction of the CSN concerning the radioactive facilities). Subsequently, the CSN Transport Department (ATMR) took charge of the event, once it was established that it was a transport event. Therefore the event should have been reported under IS-42, (Instruction of the CSN concerning event notifications at transport of radioactive material), by the transport enterprise.
Once the notification was received, the CSN took the following actions on Monday 16th:
- At 13:38 pm, the consignee was contacted by telephone to confirm the data received and to update the status of the event, and to request additional information.
- At 14:28 pm,the handling agent was contacted to confirm the shipment data and it indicated that they never received the package at the freight/cargo terminal.
- At approximately 17:00 pm, the CSN decided to compose a team of inspectors to visit the handling agent’s facilities at the airport, notifying them of the visit.
- At the same time, in the interval until the CSN team arrived at the airport at 19:00 pm, communications with consignee and handling agent were repeated to gather additional information, but new data was not obtained.
In the offices of the handling agent at the airport, the CSN team, accompanied by the personnel from the airport's Judicial Police, collected more detailed information from the managers of the handling agent, who contacted with the ground handling agent (the company in charge of ground activities at the airport).
The Guardia Civil (Spain’s national law enforcement agency in charge of the customs control and airport security) joined the search for the missing package, checking the security cameras to determine whether the package had been unloaded from the aircraft. During the course of this check, the handling agent’s personnel, after a closer examination of their terminal goods receipt register, identified the entry corresponding to the missing package.
Finally, as result of the investigations carried out by the Guardia Civil, the package was located in another terminal of the airport, hidden below a cone. Once the appropriate radiological controls were carried out by the CSN team, and the package was checked to be in perfect conditions, it was transferred to the in-transit radioactive materials storage facility of the handling agent, where it was verified that it was properly stored in compliance with the security measures.
Preliminary analysis indicates that there are various regulatory non-compliances in the chain of events leading to the loss of the package. Therefore, an in depth assessment of those non compliances will be made in the short term as part of an inspection of the handling agent by the CSN.
INES Rating: 1 - Anomaly (Final) as per 18 December 2024
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Release beyond authorized limits?
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No
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Overexposure of a member of the public?
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No
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Overexposure of a worker?
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No
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Contamination spread within the facility?
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No
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Damage to radiological barriers (incl. fuel damage) within the facility?
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No
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Degradation of Defence In-Depth
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No
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Person injured physically or casualty?
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No
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Is there a continuing problem?
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No
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José Antonio Rodríguez Díaz
Consejo de Seguridad Nuclear (CSN)
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jard@csn.es
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