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The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has proposed an $8,800 fine against Biomedical Scanning Services, Inc., of St. Louis, Missouri, for deliberately violating NRC requirements for receiving shipments of radioactive materials and for providing incomplete or inaccurate information to NRC inspectors.
The company provides mobile medical diagnostic services to patients at hospitals in the St. Louis area.
NRC inspectors found that the company violated NRC regulations for ordering and receiving radioactive materials on numerous occasions from December 1997 until February of last year.
The company ordered radioactive materials to be delivered directly to one of its client hospitals, and received shipments of radioactive pharmaceuticals at its mobile van without the required personnel being present. Both practices violated NRC requirements that prohibit direct delivery of radioactive materials to a client hospital and that require trained and qualified personnel receive shipments of the radioactive materials.
The practices, although violating NRC requirements, did not affect patient care or represent a threat to public health and safety.
The NRC's Office of Investigations further determined that the president of Biomedical Scanning Services "deliberately provided inaccurate and incomplete information to NRC staff in both January and March 2000, when questioned about the delivery and receipt of [radioactive] materials."
In notifying the company of the proposed fine, NRC Regional Administrator James E. Dyer noted that the amount of the fine was increased because the violations were found to be deliberate.
Biomedical Scanning Services has until March 23, 2001, to pay the fine or to protest it. If the fine is protested and subsequently imposed by the NRC staff, the company may request a hearing.
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