The licensee reported that two cementing densometers were aboard the Deep Water Horizon Oil Rig when the oil rig caught fire on the evening of April 20, 2010. The oil rig is located in Federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico (
Mississippi Canyon Block 252). At the time of the report, the oil rig was sinking in 4000 feet of water.
The two gauges on the oil rig were as follows:
1. Device 10SD, Device S/N: V32785, Source S/N: DA071, Isotope Products Model No. A-3906, Isotope: Cs-137, Current Activity: 8.3 mCi
2. Device 10SD, Device S/N: W25980, Source S/N: XA923, Gammatron Model No. GTGHP, Isotope: Cs-137, Current Activity: 8.2 mCi
When brought onto the oil rig, both devices were high integrity sources inside a tungsten cavity, and further contained in steel. The licensee had no information whether or not the sources were compromised as a result of oil rig fire and sinking.
Based on the depth of the water where the oil rig is sinking, the licensee does not anticipate that the devices will be recoverable.
The licensee notified the Region IV office of the incident.
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, it is being categorized as a less than Category 3 source
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