The Gap in Insurance Liability for Blood and Research Gamma Irradiators

In 2019, a federal contractor accidently breached a 2,900 Ci 137 Cs sealed source while decommissioning it from a University of Washington research building, releasing a single digit curie of its contents. This event contaminated 13 people as well as all seven floors of the research building, which housed the radiation source. Estimates for clean-up costs and lost revenue exceeded $150 million. The magnitude of this cost prompted licensees in possession of such radioactive sources to question whether their insurance coverage is adequate to cover a large-scale incident and if coverage for such exposure even exists. In this article, we identify potential gaps in commercially available insurance policies by evaluating and assessing associated risks, damages, and accountability. While insurance can mitigate the expense associated with remediation, it is unlikely that sufficient limits would exist to fully protect healthcare institutions from direct financial liability in the event that their radioactive sources are implicated in a nuclear, chemical, biological, or radiological (NCBR) (sometimes called CBRN in other literature) mass contamination event. This paper seeks to outline how the risks and liability to healthcare institutions having such gamma irradiators can be reduced significantly by removing them rather than seeking to insure against the cost of remediation in the event of a leak and/or mass contamination. As such, licensees are encouraged to check their policies for the correct coverage and make sure any coverage restriction is removed from their policies. In addition, licensees are also encouraged to explore financial incentives offered by the US government programs to not only dispose of their present gamma irradiator sources at no cost but also to provide financial support to replace them with alternative technologies.