The following was received from the State of
Ohio via email:
The licensee's technician performed work using the gauge at a job site in Blue Ash, Ohio on 11/24/17. After leaving the job site, the technician stopped at several locations [before] arriving home. The gauge was discovered missing on 11/27/17 when the technician arrived at the licensee's facility. The storage container for the gauge was not broken into indicating that it had not been locked. A report was filed with the Cincinnati Police Department.
Device Name: PORTABLE GAUGE
Manufacturer: CAMPBELL PACIFIC NUC
Model Number: MC-1
Serial Number: 70603768
Activity: Cs-137:10mCi and Am-Be: 50mCi
Ohio Reference Number: OH 2017-070
- * * UPDATE AT 0919 EST ON 11/29/2017 FROM STEPHEN JAMES TO MARK ABRAMOVITZ * * *
The following report was received via e-mail:
On 11/28/17 ODH [Ohio Department of Health] inspectors visited each of the locations the technician visited after leaving the job site on 11/24/17. The inspectors searched in dumpsters, other containers, and around the buildings to try to locate the device. They also took radiation surveys in each of the areas. The surveys indicated no increased radiation levels and the gauge was not found by the ODH inspectors. This incident remains open.
Ohio Report: OH170010
Notified the R3DO (Duncan) and NMSS Events Resource (via e-mail).
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