The licensee provided the following information via facsimile:
A portable gas chromatograph with a 15 mCi source of Ni-63 was lost during Hurricane Katrina when the levees broke. This is a General License device. LDEQ was not notified of this loss until August 13, 2007.
LA Event Report - LA070025
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.