The following information was received from the State of
New Jersey via email:
The licensee [Lew Corporation] called [the NJ Department of Environmental Protection's Bureau of Environmental Radiation] to report that one of their XRF devices is apparently lost. The device is a Protec LPA-1, serial number 2106, containing a Co-57 source with an activity of 7.2 mCi as of January 2017. The unit was shipped to the manufacturer, Protec, back in July for repairs. The licensee has proof from the delivery service that the device was signed for at Protec's office in Massachusetts back in July. Protec has now informed the licensee that they don't know the location of the device and are considering it lost. A written report from the licensee will be supplied within 30 days. The Massachusetts radiation control office has been informed.
The LPA-1 is a handheld Lead Paint Analyzer using X-Ray Florescence (XRF) and K-Shell technologies to non-destructively detect the presence of lead on a painted surface.
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