The following was received from the
California Department of Public Health, Radiologic Health Branch (CARHB) via email:
On April 6, 2023, California Office of Emergency Services was notified by a Pavement Engineering, Inc. (PEI) Radiation Safety Officer that two nuclear gauges (Troxler Model 3430, S/N 75597 and Troxler Model 4640-B, S/N 1930 each containing 9 mCi of Cs-137 and the former containing 40 mCi of Am-241) were stolen from a company vehicle, on April 5, 2023, around 1900 [PDT], that was parked at a taqueria located in San Leandro, CA. Both gauges were reported by PEI to have been properly secured/locked in the bed of a company truck.
The licensee notified the San Leandro Police Department of the stolen gauges and CARHB will notify the FBI.
CARHB will be investigating the circumstances of the theft.
California NMED Number: 040623
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