The following is a summary of information received from the Department of Environmental Quality (
DEQ) via email:
At about 0910 [CDT] on 8/30/19, DEQ received a call from W2 Engineering, Oklahoma license OK-32142-01. W2 Engineering holds an Oklahoma license for portable gauges and is based in Oklahoma City. [W2 Engineering] reported that it had lost contact with one of the technicians who had been driving one of the company's vehicles with a Humboldt portable gauge (s/n 8700) in it. The last known location for [the technician] (and presumably the gauge) was at 0856 [CDT] Thursday when [the technician] made a purchase at Perry, Oklahoma. [The technician] had not made contact since then, nor had [the individual] responded to numerous messages and efforts to contact. [W2 Engineering] now considers the gauge out of the licensee's control. [W2 Engineering] has advised the [Oklahoma Highway Police], and they say the vehicle is not known to be in any of their impound yards. [W2 Engineering] has filed a report with Oklahoma City police, and a police officer is on site taking the report now.
This report is based on an initial phone notification, and more information will be added when it becomes available.
- * * UPDATE FROM MIKE BRODERICK TO DONALD NORWOOD AT 1717 EDT ON 9/1/2019 * * *
The following information was received via E-mail:
The gauge missing from W2 engineering has been recovered along with the vehicle in Blackwell, Oklahoma. More details will be provided as they become available."
Notified R4DO (Drake) and the NMSS Events Notification E-mail group.
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