The following information was provided by the
California Department of Public Health Radiologic Health Branch (
RHB) via email:
On 1/23/24, California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (CAL OES), contacted RHB to report a stolen moisture density gauge. Per the CAL OES report, at around 2200 PST on 01/22/24, a portable gauge was stolen from the bed of a parked truck belonging to the reporting party.
On 1/23/24, RHB contacted the reporting party (gauge user) and learned the following:
The stolen gauge is a CPN Model 131, serial number, MD 00705803, containing 10 mCi of Cs-137 and 50 mCi of Am-241. On 1/22/24, around 2030 PST, the gauge user was feeling ill and was not able to return the gauge to the storage unit and decided to leave it in his work truck parked at his residence. On the next day morning (1/23/24) at around 0700, the user drove his truck to a job site in Palo Alto, CA, opened the cover of the bed of the truck and discovered that the gauge was stolen from the vehicle. There were no signs of a break-in, so the truck bed may have been left unlocked. The gauge storage box was chained through two handles and was attached to the bed of the truck. On 1/23/24, at around 1400 PST, the gauge user notified the Daily City Police Department of the stolen gauge (Report No. T24000071).
RHB will be following up on this investigation.
CAL OES Report CENTRL No.: 24-0397
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