On March 30, 2007, in Dallas, TX, during a torrential rainstorm, the driver of a truck carrying radioactive material slammed into the guardrail of a bridge. The driver, who is the Radiation Safety Office for the company, was thrown from the truck and hospitalized. The
moisture density gauge (
Troxler Model 3450, S/N 544) transport case was thrown from the truck and fell [approximately] 40 feet to a service road where the transport case broke apart and the
gauge ended up on the side of the road. The next morning the Dallas Fire and Rescue Department (DFD) was alerted that a nuclear
gauge had been transported in the truck and was unaccounted for. Once the
gauge was sighted and radiation symbols identified, DFD closed the service road and called in an environmental firm for assistance. Four hours later the Agency was notified by DFD via the Agency's answering service. DFD personnel suited up and retrieved the
gauge. The
gauge was found to be undamaged except for a broken display. The two sources in the
gauge (40mCi, AmBe-241, S/N47-28488 and 8mCi,
Cs-137, S/N750-7116) were still retracted into the body of the device and appeared undamaged. The instrument was removed to a secure location and the licensee is making arrangements for the manufacturer to retrieve and repair the unit. The investigation is on-going.
TX Incident No.: I-8400
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.