The following was received via e-mail:
On 07/17/19, the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services contacted the Radiologic Health Branch (RHB) to report a stolen moisture-density gauge. The gauge involved is a Troxler Model 3450A, S/N 483, containing 9 mCi of Cs-137 and 44 mCi of Am-241. The gauge was stolen out of a gauge technician's truck parked at a Motel 6 parking lot around 2100 PDT in Oakland, CA. The user had immediately called the Oakland Police Department and was advised to call back at a later time. On the morning of 7/18/19, the Oakland Police Department was contacted again and they declined to take a report due to high volume of incidents. The gauge was chained to the bed of the truck and there were guards present at the parking lot. The licensee will be posting a reward for the safe return of the gauge. RHB will be following up on this investigation.
California 5010 Number: 071719
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