The following report was received from the State of
California via e-mail:
On October 2, 2009, the California Radiologic Health Branch was contacted by Romig Engineers, Inc. Radiation Safety Officer via California Department of Public Health duty officer at 09:30 am. The call was to report that one moisture density gauge which belongs to Romig Engineers, Inc, License # 7223-41, office and storage location at San Carlos, CA, was stolen.
The Radiation Safety Officer stated that on October 1, 2009, the gauge user checked out CPN, model MC1-DR, S/N 30807119, containing a licensed material Cs-137, 10 mCi and Am/Be 15 mCi, moisture density gauge from the storage location, and transported using his personal vehicle to his residence at San Jose , CA, to be used in San Jose area the following day.
On October 2, 2009, as the gauge user was going to his parking garage he found out that his personal vehicle containing the CPN moisture density gauge was stolen. The gauge user contacted the Radiation Safety Officer and the San Jose Police Department. Police report case number is 09-275-026. Reward to retrieve the gauge is going to be posted in local newspaper and Craigslist. RHB will perform a follow-up on this matter.
CA Report 100209
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. For additional information go to
http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/Pub1227_web.pdf