On 11/4/2011, at 1630, the licensee reported to [State of California] Radiologic Health Branch [RHB], Brea (and by voice mail to Sacramento) the theft of one of its portable nuclear
gauges, a
Troxler, Model 3440, # 34646. The theft took place from the licensee's permanent storage location, sometime in the last six weeks. The
gauge was in the authorized permanent storage area and had not been used at a temporary job location for two years. The
RSO stated that some employees had been recently laid off and may have been disgruntled. There was no evidence of tampering with the storage location locks. The
gauge contained 0.3 GBq (9 mCi) of
Cs-137 and 1.48 GBq (44 mCi) of
Am-241/Be. The
RSO was instructed to notify the local low enforcement agency to report the theft and place a reward notice in the local newspaper. The
RSO will be providing a written report and supporting documentation to
RHB within 30 days.
RHB is initiating an investigation.
California Report: 5010-110411
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