At approximately 1400 EDT, on 6/30/19, a company technician discovered that his personal vehicle was
stolen from his residence driveway in Tolland,
CT. The vehicle contained a
Troxler density
gauge locked in the trunk of the vehicle. The technician contacted the
Connecticut State Police and reported the
stolen vehicle and the
stolen density
gauge. The state police are still investigating the issue.
The nuclear density gauge is a Troxler model 3440, serial number 69523, containing 10 mCi of Cs-137 and 40 mCi of Am-241.
- * * UPDATE ON JULY 9, 2019 AT 1008 EDT FROM HABIB CHAUDHARY TO BETHANY CECERE * * *
On July 8, 2019, a State Trooper found the gauge in a portable restroom in Highland Park in Hartford, CT. Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection determined the gauge was intact. The licensee's radiation safety officer is sending the gauge for leak testing.
Notified R1DO (Dimitriadis), and ILTAB and NMSS Events Notification (via email).
- * * UPDATE ON JULY 9, 2019 AT 1652 EDT FROM SHAWN CHAUDHARY TO CATY NOLAN * * *
The Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection representative stated that he surveyed the gauge and cleared it since no damage was done. Tri State has also visually inspected and surveyed the gauge and found it to be intact and not tampered with. For extra precautions, a leak test of the gauge was taken and sent to a certified lab. The gauge will not be used until we have received the results from the lab.
Moving forward, all technicians have been instructed to make every attempt to drop off their gauge at Tri State Materials Testing Lab's designated gauge room every day at the end of their field work. If they cannot make it back due to weekend and night work, they must store the gauge at their home securely to prevent this type of incident recurrence.
Notified R1DO (Dimitriadis), and ILTAB 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