On July 31, 2007, the licensee notified DHFS of the theft of a control device for a Masterminder 2 x-ray crawler. It has been stored in a locked storage trailer at a temporary jobsite located a few miles north of Rome, WI. The lock had been cut, and other equipment had been
stolen. The device contains a
Cs-137 source with an approximate activity of 126.5 mCi. Local law enforcement and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have been notified, and are investigating. State and local emergency management have been notified, and a DHFS emergency responder has been dispatched to the site.
The company was doing radiography on a natural gas pipeline. WeldSonix has provided a picture of the device.
DHFS is planning on issuing a press release.
The state indicated that the device was 25 years old, and the activity level should be reduced by one half-life.
Event Report ID No.: WI 07-0014
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.
This source is not amongst those sources or devices identified by the
IAEA Code of Conduct for the Safety & Security of Radioactive Sources to be of concern from a radiological standpoint. Therefore is it being categorized as a less than Category 3 source