The following was received from the State of
Texas via email:
On January 2, 2013, the Agency [State of Texas] was notified by the licensee's Radiation Safety Officer (RSO) that a Troxler model 3430 containing an 8 millicurie cesium - 137 source and a 40 millicurie americium - 241/beryllium source could not be located. The licensee's records indicated that the gauge had been returned by their technician and locked in the storage area on December 31, 2012. The licensee's tracking system, which tracks the location of their vehicles, confirmed that the truck used by the technician had been returned to the licensee's location at the close of business on December 31. The licensee conducted an inventory of all of its gauges and this was the only gauge missing. The RSO stated that the storage area had no signs of tampering. The RSO stated that they had interviewed the technician assigned to use the gauge, but the technician did not provide any information useful to recover the gauge. The RSO stated that they were in the process of notifying the police of the theft. The RSO stated that the offering of a reward would be discussed with company management. The RSO stated that the gauge was locked inside of a transportation case and that the operating rod was locked in the shielded position. The RSO stated that he did not believe there was any risk of exposure to a member of the general public. Additional information will be provided as it is received in accordance with SA-300.
Texas Incident Number: I-9030
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