The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued a slap on the wrist to International Isotopes for exporting radioactive isotopes with medical and industrial applications to Iraq without a proper license in 2019, according to documents.
The company exported a combined total of 264.60 MBq of Cesium-137, Barium-133, Cobalt-57, Cobalt-60, Europium-152, and Sodium-22 without a proper license in four separate shipments to Iraq, an embargoed country, in May, October and December 2019, according to the notice.
A review by the commission earlier this year found the Idaho-based company, which among other things creates products for nuclear medicine, molecular imaging & cancer therapy, responsible for violating Nuclear Regulation Commission (NRC) enforcement codes, but didn’t issue a fine or penalty.
The NRC said in the letter outlining the notice of the violation that the facility has not been the subject of escalated enforcement actions within the last 2 years, and corrective actions submitted in response to the investigation “appear comprehensive and are likely to prevent future recurrence.”
“However, significant violations in the future could result in a civil penalty,” the NRC wrote in the letter.
International Isotopes has stumbled a couple times in recent years. Earlier this year, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) canceled or suspended contracts with the company after international isotopes personnel in 2019 accidentally released cesium-137 while removing a blood irradiator from the University of Washington’s Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
The release contaminated 13 people and seven floors of the building, which will remain closed until at least January 2021 for cleaning.
