The following information was provided by the
Texas Department of State Health Services (the Department) via phone and email:
On October 17, 2024, the Department was notified by the licensee's radiation safety officer (RSO) that a Troxler model 3440 gauge had been stolen from the back of one of the company's pickup trucks. The gauge contains a 40 millicurie americium-241:beryllium source and an 8 millicurie cesium-137 source. The RSO stated the technician went to the truck at 0545 CDT this morning and found that the chains holding the gauge in the truck had been cut and the gauge and transport case were missing. The RSO stated that because the gauge had not been used this day, the cesium source rod should have been locked in the fully shielded position. The City of Fort Worth's police department was notified of the theft. The RSO is traveling to the office where the gauge was normally stored to interview the technician involved in the event.
Additional information will be provided as it is received in accordance with SA-300.
Texas NMED #: TX240039
Texas Incident #: 10138
The Department has sent a notice of this event to the City of Fort Worth Emergency Management Office.
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