The following report was received from the
Illinois Emergency Management Agency (the Agency) via email:
The Agency was contacted after business hours on 5/6/21 to report the possible loss of three 5 microCurie Am-241 sources. The sources were reported missing in transit on 5/6/2021 by Intertek Testing Services NA, Inc. The last known location was the common carrier hub in Memphis TN. The common carrier is still actively searching and has not yet declared the package as lost. While a reportable quantity under NRC, this does not represent a serious public safety hazard. There is no indication of intentional theft or diversion at this time. This quantity of material would not be immediately useful for elicit purposes.
The three sources were contained in EC-912 MIC heads (smoke measuring equipment) which had been packaged for shipment to the manufacturer for calibration on 4/15/2021. The common carrier, is still actively trying to locate the three packages. As these were labeled as excepted packages, they only bear UN2911 and do not have radioactive labels on the exterior. This is not an immediate hazard to workers or members of the public that locate the package. Each of the three packages is approximately 24"x24"x48" in a framed wood box with metal reinforcements.
This report will be updated as additional information becomes available.
Illinois Incident No.: IL210014
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