The State of
Louisiana received a report from a licensee representative that 101 Palladium 103 seeds, with a total activity of 132 millicuries, were
stolen. The seeds were
stolen from a truck at 2235 Highway 178 in Sunset, LA. The seeds had been accepted by the licensee from the shipper and were going to transported to the hospital by the licensee representative.
The licensee notified the Louisiana State Police and local law enforcement and is following up on the incident.
- * * UPDATE ON 4/4/07 AT 1630 EDT FROM PATE TO SNYDER * * *
The following information was received via e-mail from the State of Louisiana:
At the time of the theft the truck was parked at the residence of the licensee's Radiation Safety Officer (RSO). The RSO contacted the St. Landry Parish Sheriff and the Louisiana State Police. The seeds were in the vehicle on the rear seat inside a red, padlocked, metal tool chest labeled as radioactive material. The approximate dimensions of the tool chest are 1.5 to 2 feet long and 8 to 10 inches wide. The seeds were contained in seven plastic sleeves that were attached to the inside of one stainless steel container that was inside another stainless steel container.
Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality has dispatched three inspectors out to search the area where the sources were stolen with instrumentation. "If the Palladium sources were piled together outside of their shielded containers, this would result in a radiation exposure roughly 16.6 [millirem/hour] at one foot.
[The RSO] has stated that the facility will be notifying the public by television and newspapers.
Notified R4DO (C. Cain) and FSME EO (D. Rathbun).
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.