At approximately 9:30
AM December 16, 2005, the Agency was informed by the Licensee that a
Troxler Model 3411B Portable
Gauge, SN 17964 had been
stolen from the back of an employee's pick up truck. The theft occurred between 2:00 - 4:30
AM December 16, 2005. The
gauge contains 8 mCi (millicuries) of
Cesium-137 and 40 mCi (millicuries) AM:Be-241.
Phoenix PD is investigating and has issued report number 2005-52380969
The Licensee is offering a $500.00 reward for the recovery of the truck and sources. A press release is to be made.
The Agency continues to investigate.
The states of CA, NV, CO, UT, and NM and Mexico and U.S. NRC and FBI are being notified of this event.
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.