The State provided the following information via email:
The Radiation Safety Officer (RSO)/owner of Rio Grande Radiological Physics Group, LLC (NM license number RS433-01) reported at 7:51 a.m. on November 20, 2006 that he had lost control of a 108 microCurie Cs-137 sealed source and a Co-57 sealed source (decayed down to background levels of radiation). The RSO/owner is a medical physicist and had returned home late Friday night, November 17, 2006, from a trip in which he had provided radiological services to a contracted facility. As he unloaded his equipment at his residence, he placed the two sealed sources that were in lead containers, on a gate or tailgate and proceeded to move his equipment into his residence.
He apparently left the two sources behind. The sources landed up in the possession of one of his neighbors. On Saturday, November 18, 2006, the neighbor participated in an activity at the state fair grounds in Albuquerque, NM and had the sources in his vehicle. The sources ended up being placed on the ground in a parking lot where they were found. An emergency response was initiated with NM State Police, NM National Guard, and a DOE RAP Team from Sandia National Laboratory responding. DOE Sandia took possession of the sources and safeguarded them.
The RSO contacted the FBI on Sunday, November 19, 2006 and reported the incident. He is meeting with an FBI agent and a Radiation Control Bureau inspector today. New Mexico Radiation Control Bureau personnel are currently investigating the incident and the two sources are in the process of being returned to the licensee by Bureau personnel. Details will be provided as they develop and are made available.
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.