Incident: At approximately 1130
CDT, at the new Joplin High School Construction Site in Joplin, Jasper County,
Missouri, a nuclear density [gauge] was run over by a tire of a towed scraper. The damage was primarily to the housing of the meter. The technician immediately secured the area and contacted his supervisor. [The supervisor] went to the site and took readings using a TROX-A-LERT Model 3105B Radiation Survey Meter of the
gauge and the soil where the
gauge was run over and of the scraper which ran over the [gauge]. Readings at 1 meter from the [gauge] ranged from 0.12 to 0.20 mrem/hr. A reading of 2.5 mrem/hr [was indicated at the] housing of the [gauge] . The source did not appear to be damaged and was still encapsulated in the [gauge].
The gauge was placed in a truck box mounted in the bed of a pickup truck and taken back to [the licensee's lab]. Once at the lab the gauge was wrapped in lead sheeting and placed in a nuclear [gauge] storage box. A reading of 0.1 mrem/hr was obtained at 1 meter with the lead sheeting wrapped around the meter.
The damaged
gauge is a
CPN, serial number MD1205992.