On 9/27/12, at about 1100 EDT, the Radiation Safety Officer of Tri-State Materials Testing was notified that an employee of Tri-State Materials Testing did not show at a jobsite as expected at 0900 EDT. The employee was carrying a
Troxler Model 3411
moisture density gauge, S/N 4783. This
gauge typically has a 9 milliCurie
Cs-137 source and a 44 milliCurie Am:Be source. The
RSO reported that the
gauge was in the proper container and properly secured to the employee's vehicle when last seen.
The RSO searched for the employee and attempted to contact him numerous times with no result. The gauge is assumed lost and a report has been filed with the Wallingford Police Department.
- * * UPDATE AT 0002 ON 09/29/12 FROM HABIB CHAUDHARY TO PETE SNYDER * * *
The employee contacted the RSO and confirmed that he was in possession of the gauge and would return it on 09/29/12. The RSO notified the Wallington Police Department that the gauge was still in the possession of the Authorized User and secured.
Notified R1DO (Bellamy) and FSME Event Resource via email.
- * * UPDATE FROM HABIB CHAUDHARY TO DONALD NORWOOD AT 0143 EDT ON 9/29/2012 * * *
As of 0115 EDT, the gauge was in the possession of the RSO.
Notified R1DO (Bellamy) and FSME Event Resource via E-mail.
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