The
National Response Center notified the NRC Operations Center that a 6 curie Molybdenum-99 generator was reported
stolen in the State of
Wisconsin. A representative of the shipment carrier along with the State of
Wisconsin Radiation Protection Section provided additional details. The generator had originated at Bristol Myers Squibb in
Massachusetts and was
stolen from a pickup truck at the Milwaukee, WI Airport en route to Froedtert Hospital in
Wisconsin. The theft was reported to the Milwaukee Sheriff's Department.
Massachusetts has assigned docket number 01-6787 to track this incident.
- * * UPDATE FROM SCHMIDT (WISCONSIN RADIATION PROTECTION) TO KNOKE AT 1330 ON 1/18/07 * * *
A representative of the State of Wisconsin Radiation Protection Section called reporting that the material package was not stolen from the truck, but had fallen off the truck while enroute Froedtert Hospital. On 1/14/07 a private citizen had observed this event and took the material package home with him and contacted the carrier company identified on the shipping label. Because this was over the weekend no one was at the company to take the call. On 1/17/07 the citizen turned in the missing package to local police. The police subsequently brought the package to Froedtert Hospital in Wisconsin. On 1/18 the hospital evaluated the container and determined there was no damage and no contamination.
The NRC Operations Center conveyed this information to the State of Massachusetts Radiation Control Program (Sumares). Contacted R1DO (Cobey), R3DO (Peterson), NMSS (Wastler), ILTAB (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 injure someone who handled it or were otherwise in contact with it, or who were close to it for a period of many weeks.