ENS 44079
ENS Event | |
|---|---|
10:30 Mar 20, 2008 | |
| Title | Agreement State Report - Stolen Neutron Generators and Logging Tool |
| Event Description | A representative of Baker Atlas, a fishing and well-logging company, reported that a F-250 pick-up truck was stolen this morning between midnight and 5:30 a.m. central time. Contained in the truck were 4 neutron generators with a source strength of less than 1 curie each and one well logging source with a source strength of 100 milliCuries of Cs-137.
The State of Texas is following up on the report with more details to follow.
The following additional details were provided by the State of Texas via email: Event Description: On March 20, 2008, at 6:25 a.m., the agency received a telephone call from the licensee, reporting the theft of one of the company's vehicles, a Ford F-250 pick-up truck (licensee will find license plate number and submit later) from a hotel in Pharr, Texas, which had four neutron generators and one logging tool that contained a 100 milliCuries (mCi) radioactive material (RAM) stored on the truck. The licensee reported that the crew was from their Pearland, Texas site. The licensee stated the vehicle containing the sources was stolen from the LaQuinta hotel in Pharr, Texas between the hours of 12:30 and 5:00 A.M. on Thursday, March 20, 2008. The licensee immediately contacted the Pharr Police Department and filed a theft report. The licensee further reported that the initial police investigation shows that the vehicle has not crossed into Mexico. The licensee submitted the following information regarding the stolen equipment: A. The Cesium source is a Gulf Nuclear CS-2 with an original capsule number of CS2-985. This source was shipped with a tracking ID of S3H01 12. The activity is 3.7 GBq (100 mCi). B. The Pulsed Neutron Generators (SSDR, along with a section of our Transport Manual showing the container that the tools are carried in and a drawing of the tool section sent to Incident Investigation Program (IIP)). The tools in question are: 1. Generator 370457 mounted in tool 8283PA-10041239 and containing tube 327. 2. Generator 370453 mounted in tool 8283PA-370403 and containing tube 321. 3. Generator 189707 mounted in tool 8283PA-190149 and containing tube 340. 4. Generator 189496 mounted in tool 8283PA-370249 and containing tube 271. Each of these generators contains less than 37 GBq of H-3. The licensee stated that their company uses a tracking number system in place of the traditional model/serial numbers. The licensee will try to research the traditional numbers to submit later. Texas Incident #: I-8496 Notified R4DO (Whitten) and FSME (Burgess).
The truck was recovered early morning on Saturday, March 30, 2008 just south of Falfurrias, TX. The search is on-going for the missing rad material. Notified R4DO (Lantz) and FSME (White).
The State provided the following information via email: On April 6, 2008, [licensee] received a call from [their] security consultant stating that the Mission Texas Police Department (PD) had contacted him that a radioactive source had been located near the intersection of Bensen Palms Road and Orange Grove Drive. At 1:08 PM, Officer [delete] of the Mission PD contacted [licensee] and confirmed that the device appeared to be our stolen Cesium Source and that the padlock was intact. [Licensee] dispatched our local District Manager (DM) and an engineer to the location to take possession of the source and transport it to our storage location in Edinburg, Texas. The local DM confirmed that the source was intact and conducted an area survey to ascertain that no contamination had occurred. The local DM and the engineer will drive the area around the recovery, but at this time there is no sign of the missing Neutron Generators and associated tools. Notified R4DO (Deese), FSME (Kock), ILTAB via 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. Although IAEA categorization of this event is typically based on device type, the staff has been made aware of the actual activity of the source, and after calculation determines that it is a Less than Cat 3 event. Note: the value assigned by device type "Category 3" is different than the calculated value "Less than Cat 3 |
| Where | |
|---|---|
| Baker Atlas Pearland, Texas (NRC Region 4) | |
| License number: | L00446-026 |
| Organization: | Texas Department Of Health |
| Reporting | |
| Agreement State | |
| Time - Person (Reporting Time:+-2.88 h-0.12 days <br />-0.0171 weeks <br />-0.00395 months <br />) | |
| Opened: | Latischa Hanson 07:37 Mar 20, 2008 |
| NRC Officer: | Pete Snyder |
| Last Updated: | Apr 8, 2008 |
| 44079 - NRC Website | |
Baker Atlas with Agreement State | |
WEEKMONTHYEARENS 442592008-06-03T05:00:0003 June 2008 05:00:00
[Table view]Agreement State Louisiana Agreement State Report - Lost Well Logging Tool ENS 440792008-03-20T10:30:00020 March 2008 10:30:00 Agreement State Agreement State Report - Stolen Neutron Generators and Logging Tool 2008-06-03T05:00:00 | |