The licensee (IsoRx) reported to the State of
California that their vehicle was broken into at Modesto, CA and a 2 milliCurie capsule of
I-131 was taken. IsoRx is a Nuclear Pharmaceutical company operating in San Francisco, CA. The owner and
RSO is on his way to Modesto to investigate this matter. The State of CA told licensee to contact the Modesto police and fill out a report.
- * * UPDATE PROVIDED FROM KENT PRENDERGAST TO JEFF ROTTON AT 1616 EDT ON 05/22/06 * * *
The initial report from the State of California claimed that the vehicle was broken into in Modesto, CA. That was reported incorrectly and is being revised by the update provided below.
The State provided the following information via email:
On 5/21/06, the RSO at IsoRx called Kent Prendergast [State of California] to report a theft of about 2 mCi of I-131 capsule from a trunk of a IsoRX vehicle that was parked at Myrtle Street between Park and Larkin in San Francisco. Immediately after the incident, the RSO and [Deleted] (CHP) surveyed a four block area around the theft site with a Ludlum Model 3, (S/N 197096, PR 207476) micro R meter. A thorough survey of the vehicle was also performed. None of the surveys indicated any elevated readings above background. The RSO also conducted a ground search of the area with the pharmacy personnel and spoke with local 'street people' to uncover any information. A reward was also offered for the capsule. RSO filed reports with OES and SFPD. The RSO will be sending a formal report to the RHB regarding the incident.
Notified R4DO(Shaffer) and NMSS EO (Burgess) and ILTAB(via email).
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 injured someone who handled it or were otherwise in contact with it, or who were close to it for a period of many weeks.
This source is not amongst those sources or devices identified by the
IAEA Code of Conduct for the Safety & Security of Radioactive Sources to be of concern from a radiological standpoint. Therefore is it being categorized as a less than Category 3 source