The following was received via facsimile:
On Wednesday 8/24/05 a densometer (serial number W28901) with a 9.25 mCi source of Cs-137 (serial number DA433) was secured to an iron truck after performing a job. There were multiple trucks that were convoyed in and there were no reports of anything falling off. The path that was taken was Texas 302 to 301 to loop 390 to Highway 79 to I-20 to Industrial drive exit. The truck had a bad transmission and was taken to Peterbuilt for repair that same day. The repaired truck was returned to the Bossier City yard on Thursday 8/25/05. On Saturday 8/27/05 during an inspection of the truck for a job on 8/28/05, it was noticed that the 2 inch densometer was missing. The mounting bracket which held the densometer does not appear to have been compromised however, the lock and densometer were missing. The route that was taken was checked, but the devise could not be located. An award was placed in the local paper on 9/2/05. As of this date the devise has not been located. To prevent reoccurrence, the densometer holder has been relocated from the rear bumper to the front center portion of the bed of the unit. The densometer is secured by means of a hammer union, bar, and lock.
Louisiana Report Number: LA050008.
Sources that are "Less than
IAEA Category 3 sources," are either sources that are very unlikely to cause permanent injury to individuals or contain a very small amount of radioactive material that would not cause any permanent injury. Some of these sources, such as
moisture density gauges or thickness
gauges that are Category 4, the amount of unshielded radioactive material, if not safely managed or securely protected, could possibly - although it is unlikely - temporarily injure someone who handled it or were otherwise in contact with it, or who were close to it for a period of many weeks.