The following was received from the
Maryland Radiological Health Program via phone and email:
On October 2, 2019, at 0825 EDT, the Maryland Department of the Environment Radiological Health Program (MDE-RHP) was contacted via telephone by the Vice President and Office Manager of Engineering Consulting Services Mid-Atlantic, LLC (ECS), Maryland license number MD-03-092-01, that a portable density gauge was missing. The gauge was identified as a Troxler model 3430, S/N 34485, with nominal activities of 10 mCi Cs-137 and 40 mCi Am-241/Be. The last leak test was performed on July 23, 2019.
On October 1, 2019, at approximately 1200 EDT, ECS management started to track down the location of the portable density gauge as an internal audit revealed that this gauge was not signed out by the user. Later that afternoon, the gauge user was found at home by ECS management. The user then revealed that his vehicle was in a minor accident in Hanover, MD and the Anne Arundel County police impounded his vehicle with the gauge locked in the trunk. Multiple attempts were made to recover the portable gauge after hours on October 1, 2019 from the impoundment lot but without success. The gauge remained secured in the trunk of the vehicle while within the fenced and secured impoundment lot overnight. The Radiation Safety Officer from ECS recovered the portable density gauge at 0855 hours0.0099 days <br />0.238 hours <br />0.00141 weeks <br />3.253275e-4 months <br /> EDT on October 2, 2019. The gauge was found intact and returned to ECS storage.
MDE/RHP will conduct a reactive investigation.
Notified R1DO (Dentel), ILTAB and NMSS (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