The State provided the following information via email:
The licensee notified [the State of Washington] office via [the] agency hotline phone number at 8:00 a.m. Monday, May 1, 2006 of a theft of a Troxler model 3430 portable moisture/density gauge [Serial Number 27641; 8mCi of Cs-137 and 40 mCi of Am-241/Be]. The theft occurred sometime between Friday (p.m.) April 28, 2006 and Monday (a.m.) May 1, 2006 from a temporary jobsite trailer located at the Wal-Mart construction site on 7110 Bridgeport Way, Lakewood, Washington. The gauge was last seen Friday, April 28, 2006 when the gauge was secured in the jobsite trailer by the licensee's gauge user. The Licensee indicated that the gauge operator employed by the licensee arrived at the job-site and found the padlock on the outside of the trailer had been cut. Once in side, he found the chains securing the gauge case had also been cut and the gauge was missing. Nothing else appeared to be missing from the trailer. The gauge user was not present at the jobsite over the weekend and the licensee can not determine the exact day or time it was stolen. A police report was filed with the Lakewood Police Department and given report number 061210259."
Washington Report Number WA-06-020
THIS MATERIAL EVENT CONTAINS A "LESS THAN CAT 3" LEVEL OF RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL
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.