The following information was received from the State of
Nebraska via email:
H-3 exits signs were shipped to the ethanol facility in December of 2006. Fagan was the contractor for the ethanol plant. The new Plant Manager did an inventory of the facility in March of 2009 and discovered two missing exit signs. SRB Technologies Model BX-20-BK, Serial # C061306 and C061307, containing 17.51 Ci of H-3. The Manager was not sure if a physical inventory had been done before. He contacted Fagan to see if they had any information concerning the signs. They did not. Nebraska has reported missing H-3 exit signs that Fagan ordered for other ethanol plants in Nebraska. No one is sure if the signs were ever installed in the plant.
NE Report Number NE090008
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