The State provided the following information via facsimile:
On 8/31/06 the licensee contacted the Radiological Health Branch (RHB) and the Operations Emergency Services (OES) to notify them that one of their Humboldt Scientific gauges, Model 5001C, S/N 1758 containing 10 milli Ci of Cs-137 and 40 milli Ci of [Am]-241 had fallen off from a truck during transportation. The RHB Richmond office contacted the ARSO on 08/31/06 and learned the following:
On 8/30/06 the gauge operator finished a job in Tulare, CA, and left the jobsite around 3:00 p.m. to go to another jobsite in Fresno, CA. When he arrived at the jobsite in Fresno, the operator noticed that the gauge was missing. He had not made any stops on his way to Fresno from Tulare. According to the ARSO, the operator had placed the gauge in the back of the truck without storing it in a type A container and it was not blocked and braced during transportation. When the operator learned that the gauge was missing, he failed to notify the RSO/ARSO. The ARSO was notified of the incident by the operator around 7:30 am on 8/31/06. They immediately contacted the RHB and OES. The ARSO also notified the Fresno CHP and the police departments in the cities of Tulare, Visalia, Kingston, Selma, Sower, and Fresno. The Fresno CHP had notified Caltrans. The RHB advised him to post a reward for $1000.00 in local newspapers for safe return of the gauge. RHB will be investigating the items of non-compliance associated with this incident.
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.