The State provided the following information via facsimile:
The RSO for Twining Laboratories called to inform the State of California Radiologic Health Branch that a Troxler 3430, Serial # 32684, was stolen the evening of New Years Eve (12/31/05). The gauge was located in an employees garage in San Bernadino, CA. The gauge was chained in the bed of a pickup. The tab that locks the lid of the transport box was cut and the gauge, block, and charger were taken. The employee had worked half a day on Saturday and did not want to drive his vehicle all the way back to the company's Bakersfield office.
The police have been notified of the theft.
Although not stated in the report, Troxler gauges typically contain an 8 millicurie Cesium-137 source and a 40 millicurie Americium-241/Beryllium source.
State Report: 010306
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.