The following is a synopsis of information received via email:
The Florida Bureau of Radiation Control (BRC) received a call at 1030 EDT this morning from the licensee reporting a Loss of Control regarding a soil moisture density gauge at a jobsite in Rockledge, FL. The gauge was reported to be on the back of a pickup truck, out of its case, and unsecured. The driver drove off this morning, the gauge fell out and a City of Rockledge Public Works worker found the gauge. The worker knew what it was, retrieved it and contacted the company on the decal on the gauge. A technician from KSM is enroute with a radiation detector to investigate the incident and take readings of the gauge. The licensee technician got to the site and checked over the gauge and confirmed that the source was secure. The technician then started to transport the gauge to Atlantic Supply in Orlando for verification. Pictures showed only minor scratches and no obvious substantial damage to the gauge.
The moisture density gauge was a CPN/Instrotek model MC-1 Elite, s/n 30630, containing 10 mCi of Cs-137 and 44 mCi of Am-241/Be.
Florida Incident Number: FL22-081
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