January 1, 2006

On July 14, 2005, a worker at the Los Alamos National Laboratory received and opened a shipment of radioactive material from another facility in the Laboratory. The material had been inadvertently contaminated during its preparation in a glovebox. The material was not evaluated for radiological contamination before being shipped, even though it was known that there was a good possibility for contamination. The shippers assumed that the receiver knew there was a potential for contamination and would act accordingly. The receiver assumed that the material was not contaminated because he had not been told otherwise.