The following information was provided by the
Illinois Emergency Management Agency (the Agency) via phone and email:
On July 15, 2025, the Agency became aware that a generally licensed gauge containing 100 millicuries of Am-241 could not be located. The gauge, a Peco Controls Corporation Gamma 101P, (SN G011619735), was one of (8) listed in use at Teasdale Foods in Hoopeston, IL. According to the (relatively new) registrant's management, records of the device could not be found and search efforts have been unproductive. An investigation is still underway to determine the root cause and the effectiveness of corrective actions.
Sealed source information:
Serial number: 5445LA
Illinois item number: IL250027
- * * UPDATE FROM GARY FORSEE TO BRIAN P. SMITH AT 1639 EDT ON JULY 22, 2025 * * *
The following update was provided by the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (the Agency) via email:
Agency staff conducted a reactive inspection on 7/21/25 and discovered two additional 'Gamma 101P' gauges were missing and could not be accounted for. There does not appear to be any intentional theft or diversion, rather loss of accountability and oversight during routine maintenance. The Agency investigation is ongoing.
Notified R3DO (Zurawski), NMSS_Events and ILTAB (email).
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