The following information was received from the state via e-mail:
The Creston Public School purchased two self-luminous signs in 1990. The signs were SRB model Betalux E 10 with 9.75 curies of tritium in each sign. The school did an inventory in 2005. The School did not return its annual inventory in 2006. The school was dissolved in May of 2006 and the property was transferred to Leigh Public School. Leigh Public Schools informed the Agency [Nebraska Division of Radioactive materials] that the property was transferred to the Village of Creston. Representatives of the Village of Creston, speculate that the school was possibly left unlocked and unattended for a period time and during that time period the signs were removed. The disposition of the signs is unknown. The Agency made numerous attempts to determine the status of the signs and ultimately the Agency determined that the signs are lost.
The licensee discovered that the signs were missing on 01/01/2008.
Manufacturer: SRB Technologies Inc
Serial Number: 13152 and 13153
Nebraska event NE080006
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