The following was received from the
Texas Department of State Health Services (the Department) via email:
On June 11, 2024, the Department was notified by the licensee's radiation safety officer (RSO) that a 40 millicurie americium-241/beryllium (Am-241/Be) source from a Troxler 3430 moisture/density gauge could not be located. The gauge did not pass the standardization test, and was later sent to the service provider. On June 10, 2024, the service provider informed the RSO that the gauge was inspected, the cap that held the Am-241/Be source in place was no longer screwed in, and the source was missing. Radiation surveys were conducted at the facility but were unable to locate the Am-241/Be source. RSO contacted the service provider and requested a facility survey. The RSO will be interviewing their technicians and reviewing use records for the gauge in an attempt to locate where the source could have fallen out of the gauge. An exposure risk to an individual was not reported. Additional information will be provided as it is received in accordance with SA-300.
TX Incident Number: 10109
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