The following information was received from the State of
Louisiana via email:
On June 25, 2015, Source Production & Equipment Company shipped [using a common carrier] three sources to Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), . . . , [in] Worcester, MA 01609. The three sources were two Yb-169 for total activity of 65 Gbq (1.75 Ci) and one Se-75 37 Gbq (1 Ci). The package arrived at WPI damaged. The lead pig container did not have the three sources. There are no source serial numbers. The State of Massachusetts and [the common carrier] have been notified. State of Massachusetts stated that they have contacted the FBI.
Event Report ID No.: LA150011
HOO NOTE: Also reported by the common carrier to the National Response Center on 6/29/15 [Incident Report # 1121358] and by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts [EN # 51192].
- * * UPDATE FROM JAMES PATE TO JEFFREY HERRERA ON 7/7/2015 AT 1400 EDT * * *
After discussion between Louisiana and Massachusetts, The State of Louisiana considers their event (LA150011) to be closed out. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts (NRC Event Number #51192) is continuing their investigation.
Notified R4DO (Haire), ILTAB (Johnson) and NMSS Events Notification via email.
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