On Sunday evening January 29, 2017 an instrument case containing a portable
lead in paint analyzer belonging to an Environmental Design International, Inc. employee was
stolen from a vehicle. The general licensee reported the event the following day to the Agency but had already been in contact with the Chicago Police Department who were investigating. The theft took place in the Near West Side neighborhood of Chicago while the locked case was in the trunk of a vehicle. This device can only be operated with a password. The maximum surface radiation level from the device as reported by the manufacturer does not exceed 0.1 milliR/h. It contains an
IAEA Category 5 level source, the lowest risk category assigned by the
IAEA in that no one could be permanently injured by this source and if the radioactive material could be dispersed, would not permanently injure anyone.
Manufacturer: Niton
Model: XLp-300
Serial Number: 84640
Source Manufacturer: Eckert & Ziegler
Source Activity: 25 mCi Cd-109
Source Model: XFB-3
Source Serial Number: TR3631
Illinois Event: IL17003
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