The following information was received from the state of
Illinois (the Agency) via email:
At approximately 1200 CDT on September 27, 2022, the Radiation Safety Officer for Illinois Institute of Technology (RML IL-01739-01), contacted the Agency to advise of a missing Cf-252 source, which has decayed to approximately 25 nanocuries. Reportedly, approximately 30 minutes earlier, radiation protection staff noticed the door to the source storage room was unlocked and the padlock found beneath a desk. An inventory of the room led to the discovery the Cf-252 source was missing. It is unclear if this involved intentional theft. The licensee states they will continue to search for the source until Monday and will then report the theft to public safety. Agency staff requested that appropriate context for the hazard be communicated to law enforcement as well, if reported. The Agency is awaiting additional information on source model/serial number.
Illinois incident no.: IL220036
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