The following was received from the state of
Arizona via e-mail:
The [Arizona Department of Health Services] received notification that an individual stole [three] industrial radiography cameras and threatened to use them. It is believed that the individual is a current or former worker at the licensee. The isotope is Iridium-192 for all three cameras and the approximate activity amounts are 30 Curies, 49 Curies, and 80 Curies. As of approximately 1120 [MDT], the individual was located, the material was secured, and the [Radiation Safety Office] is waiting to bring the material back to the storage location. The Department has requested additional information and continues to investigate the event.
Arizona Incident No.: 19-009
Notified DHS SWO, DOE Ops Center, FEMA Ops Center, HHS Ops Center, DHS NICC, USDA Ops Center, EPA Emergency Ops Center, FDA Emergency Ops Center (email), FEMA NWC (email), DHS Nuclear SSA (email), and Domestic Nuclear Detection Office Joint Analysis Center (email).
THIS MATERIAL EVENT CONTAINS A "CATEGORY 2" LEVEL OF RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL
Category 2 sources, if not safely managed or securely protected, could cause permanent injury to a person who handled them, or were otherwise in contact with them, for a short time (minutes to hours). It could possibly be fatal to be close to this amount of unshielded radioactive material for a period of hours to days. These sources are typically used in practices such as industrial gamma radiography, high dose rate brachytherapy and medium dose rate brachytherapy. For additional information go to http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/Pub1227_web.pdf
- * * UPDATE ON 4/28/19 AT 1920 EDT FROM BRIAN GORETZKI TO JOANNA BRIDGE * * *
The following is a summary of a telephone call:
The sources were safely recovered. They were found in the radiography cameras. It is widely believed that the suspect never removed the sources from the shielded cameras. The cameras have been returned to the storage facility.
Notified R4RDO (Young), NMSS Events Notification (email), NMSS (Moore), ILTAB (e-mail), CNSNS Mexico (email), IR MOC (Kennedy), ILTAB (Smith), NMSS INES Coordinator (email), INES National Officer (email).
Notified
DHS SWO,
DOE Ops Center,
FEMA Ops Center,
HHS Ops Center,
DHS NICC, USDA Ops Center,
EPA Emergency Ops Center, FDA Emergency Ops Center (email),
FEMA NWC (email),
DHS Nuclear
SSA (email), and Domestic Nuclear Detection Office Joint Analysis Center (email).