The following is a synopsis of an email received from the State of Florida:
[RSO] called and reported that a Nuclear Moisture Density Gauge fell out of the back of his pickup truck while traveling/transporting the gauge from the office to a work site at SR 64 and Dam Rd. The gauge was padlocked in its case and chained on each side of the case to eyelets in the back of the truck using padlocks to secure the chains. Upon arrival at the worksite (Manatee County) the truck tailgate was open and the gauge was missing. The padlocks securing the chains were broken. [RSO] retraced his travel route two times to look for the missing gauge. The gauge was NOT found. [The RSO] reported the incident to both the Manatee County's and Sarasota County's Sheriffs Departments. Sarasota County Sheriff Dept. Case number 22-8695 was issued.
Report identified the sources to be Cesium-137 (10 milliCuries) and Americium-241/Be (50 milliCuries).
Florida Incident Number: FL22-012
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