The following information was provided by the
Illinois Emergency Management Agency (the Agency) via email:
As a result of an ongoing Agency investigation into unresponsive general licensees, the Agency became aware today that two generally licensed fixed gauges, one containing 150 millicuries of Am-241 and the other 80 millicuries of Am-241, were likely disposed of as scrap in February 2023. The quantity of radioactive material involved, while unlikely to be dangerous to the public, is immediately reportable to the Agency and NRC. Agency staff will conduct a reactive inspection to determine if any additional information on the gauges is available (e.g., [are the items] still at the scrap yard or potentially auctioned during site closure).
The licensee was operating at Glenview, IL, up until 2022. At that time, the company was in possession of an NDC Technologies model 102X (s/n 591181) containing 80 mCi of Am-241, and an NDC Technologies model 103X (s/n 591171) containing 150 mCi of Am-241. According to the facility's property manager, the facility closed in August 2022. Reportedly, the contents of the building were auctioned off and all remaining items were recycled for scrap in February 2023. The property manager stated that at the time they did not realize there was radioactive material in the scrap. This investigation remains ongoing.
Illinois Item Number: IL250032
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