The following information was provided by the
California Department of Public Health, Radiologic Health Branch (
RHB) via email:
The licensee's radiation safety officer (RSO) reported the theft of a CPN moisture density gauge (serial number 70308642). The gauge contains a 10 mCi Cs-137 and a 50 mCi Am-241/Be sealed source. The transit case and the gauge both have the owner's name and contact information taped to them.
Sometime over the weekend, thieves broke into the company's high security modular storage unit and then cut the lock and cable used to secure the gauge transport case to the mobile unit. The gauge operator confirms that the gauge's trigger lock was engaged after it was last used on Friday, 12/19/2025.
The licensee reported the theft to the Beaumont Police Department and will contact their gauge service company. The RSO was asked to post an ad in local news for the safe return of the gauge. The RHB will be conducting an investigation.
CA Incident Number: 122225
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