The following information was provided by the
Ohio Department of Health (
ODH) via email:
At approximately 1100 EDT on 6/29/23, ODH received notification from an Ohio radioactive materials licensee that a portable device containing radioactive sources had been lost. The device is a Troxler Model 3430 portable moisture/density gauge containing an 8 millicurie Cesium-137 source and a 40 millicurie Americium-241 source. The device had mistakenly been left on the tailgate of the technician's pickup truck when he left a jobsite to go to another work location. When the driver was stopped at an intersection, he saw in his rearview mirror that
the tailgate was open and stopped to verify the contents of the truck. At that point, he realized the gauge was missing. The technician had travelled approximately 13 miles before discovering that the device had been lost.
The gauge was recovered later that same day (6/29/23) with no apparent damage.
Ohio Incident Number: OH230007
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