The State provided the following information via email:
On Sunday Dec 24 the State of Colorado received notification from the licensee of a missing Troxler Model 3430 portable moisture density gauge SN 21961 (Activity: 8 millicuries Cs-137/ 40 millicuries Am-241/Be). The gauge was being used at a job site at Denver International Airport (DIA). The gauge is presumed to have been stolen from the truck outside the field technician's residence in Douglas County and not at DIA. However, this has not been verified.
The time of theft was not determined but is most likely between 8:00 p.m. Fri Dec 22 and 10:00 a.m. Sat Dec 23. The theft was discovered on Saturday Dec 23. The gauge had been properly chained in the back of a pickup truck and both chains had been cut.
The gauge was subsequently discovered intact in an alley in Parker, CO on 12/26/06. The address where the gauge was recovered has not yet been reported by local police.
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.