According to the Radiation Safety Officer, the operator was at a Kinko's store making copies. The
Troxler gauge was locked in a case which was locked and chained to the truck in the parking lot. The chain was cut and the
gauge was
stolen. The licensee will offer a reward. The theft has been reported to the local police department. The incident has been assigned to the Miami Inspection Office for investigation.
The gauge is a Troxler model 3430, serial number 34898, containing 40 mCi of Am-241/Be and 8 mCi of Cs-137.
Florida Incident Number FL10-007.
- * * UPDATE FROM STEVE FURNACE TO JOE O'HARA AT 0935 ON 2/16/10 * * *
[The] gauge [was] found on 2/15/10 in Miami, FL. The gauge will be operationally checked and leak tested. This office [state] will take no further action on this incident.
Notified R1DO (Jackson), FSME Day EO(McIntosh), and ILTAB(Pearson).
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
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