The
RSO [Radiation Safety Officer] from the University of Nevada, Las
Vegas, phoned to report a missing/lost source of 3 microcuries of
U-235, 90% enriched, 1.4 grams, form metallic (non-dispersible). The source package was received and surveyed on 10/30/2017, surface 90microrad/hr and 11microrad/hr at 1 meter. The source was then delivered to the Office of the Professor who ordered the source where it sat to be taken to a research area. The package was placed under a desk next to a trash can and a recycle can in the Professor's office. The Professor forgot about the package and never delivered it to the research area, but saw the source on November 3rd under the desk, then failed to deliver the source once again and the source was left over the weekend. On Monday, November 6th, when the Professor remembered the source, the source was gone. On November 7th the Professor reported the lost/missing source to the
RSO. The
RSO immediately started an investigation. The garbage in the Professor's office was collected on Monday evening, November 6th. The dumpster the trash went to was emptied Tuesday morning, November 7th, into the normal waste stream. The
RSO looked through all the dumpsters and was unable to find the package.
Because of the low activity of the source it would probably not be detected at the landfill. The RSO is emailing a preliminary report, ASAP. This is an ongoing investigation.
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