CBRN event in Massachusetts, Boston area, United States of America on Mon 8th September 2014

On September 23, 2014, the Massachusetts Radiation Control Program (MA RCP) was notified by Boston University Medical Center (BUMC) over the shipment of IR192 “in the form of brachytherapy sealed sources containing approximately 10 curies,” to a wrong, non-BUMC address. The mailroom employee at the non-BUMC address received the “yellow III package” on September 8, 2014, after which point the BUMC RSO was contacted and the package was sent back to BUMC “less than one hour after the package was delivered to the wrong address.” Currently, an investigation is being conducted by BUMC over the incident, including into the shipping company responsible for shipping the source to the wrong address. At this point however, all radioactive materials contained in the package have been accounted for. The MA RCP “plans to perform inspection upon this event. This event is considered by MA RCP to be open."