The following report was provide by the State of
Texas via e-mail:
On 7/30/08 at about 1620 CDT the Agency was notified by a licensee that a moisture/density gauge was being returned from a work location in the city of Rowlett, Texas to its normal storage location via a truck when the user remembered he had left the gauge on the tail gate of the truck outside of it's transportation container. The individual stopped the truck and went to the back of the truck to retrieve the gauge. The gauge was no longer on the tailgate. The individual drove back to the work location via the same path he had traveled, but did not find the gauge on the road or near the road surface. He stated that he found no evidence that the gauge had been hit by a vehicle. After returning to the work location, the individual called his company RSO, who in turn called the State of Texas. The RSO also contacted the City of Rowett Police Department and notified them of the event. The RSO then dispatched four additional trucks to search the area for the gauge. The gauge is a Troxler model 3430 M/D gauge serial #25249 containing one 8 millicurie Cs-137 source ser#75-8052, and one 40 millicurie Am 241 source ser #47-21519. The individual using the gauge stated that he had not traveled for more than 10 minutes before he realized that he had not secured the gauge properly. The RSO stated that they would continue to search for the gauge and notify the State when it is found." The State noted that the source rod had been in the shielded position and locked when it was placed on the tailgate.
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.