The following was received via e-mail:
The Department [Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment] received an e-mail notification on March 25, 2019, from Cardinal Health reporting a lost and found package of Ra-223. On March 22, 2019, the package was suspected to have fallen out of a [common carrier] truck and onto a member of the public's lawn located a few blocks away from the Cardinal Health Facility. The member of the public returned the package to the doorstep of Cardinal Health later that day (3/22/19). No signs of damage to the package were identified. Cardinal Health performed wipes for removable contamination and exposure rate surveys and determined there was no outer or inner contamination and all of the safety seals remained intact. More details are forthcoming.
The activity of the shipment is unknown at this time, however, it is assumed to be less than CAT 3. The State of Colorado will update the event when the activity has been determined.
Colorado Event Report No: CO190005
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. For additional information go to
http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/Pub1227_web.pdf