At 1430 PDT on 4/4/06, the CA Rad Control Program Office was notified by Global Geo Engineering, Inc. that one of their
Troxler Moisture Density Gauges, a Model 3430 - S/N 32401 containing 8 mCi
Cs-137 and 40 mCi
Am-241/Be, was missing and could not be accounted for. The last known log out occurred on 3/17/06 when the
gauge had been used by a temporary worker at a jobsite. The licensee, unable to locate the temporary worker for a work assignment, reported the
gauge as missing to both the State of CA and their local police department. CA will conduct an investigation into the circumstances involving this incident.
- * * UPDATE ON 04/05/06 AT 1548 EDT FROM DONELLE KRAJEWSKI, STATE OF CALIFORNIA, TO MACKINNON * * *
Gauge was returned to licensee today, 04/05/06. The temporary worker had the gauge in his possession.
R4DO (Linda Smith) and NMSS (Greg Morell). E-mailed to Mexico and ILTAB.
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.