The following information was received from the state of
Oklahoma via email:
On August 30, 2021, [one] of Thunderhead Testing's portable density gauge operators was on a construction site near Vian, Oklahoma. At approximately 1530 CDT, after completing a density/moisture measurement, one of the contractor's employees struck the gauge with a pickup truck. The gauge operator claims he was instructed by the superintendent to do the density measurements in front of the job superintendent's truck. When the operator had completed the density measurements and retracted the probe safely back into home position in the gauge, he turned around to pack up the gauge to move to the next location. As he turned to open the transport case, the job superintendent moved his truck to go to the next location and ran over the gauge. The superintendent stopped and the technician immediately secured the area and notified his RSO [radiation safety officer]. The RSO stated that the survey meter measurements indicated a radiation level at the gauge of 0.02 mR/hr indicating no breach of the source capsules and no leakage. The operator photographed the gauge/incident area and then placed the gauge and gauge pieces into the case, properly secured it per standard transportation protocol and then transported it back to the storage location in Bixby, Oklahoma. Upon arrival at the lab in Bixby, the operator conducted a leak test and then shipped the completed test via expedited, next-day delivery to InstroTek (NC) for analysis. The leak test report [was provided to the NRC]. With the leak test results indicating the integrity of the sources had not been compromised, arrangements were made with InstroTek to ship the gauge to InstroTek's facility in NC for proper disposal.
The gauge was a Troxler Model 3430, serial number 16349, and contains 40 mCi Am241:Be and 8 mCi Cs-137.
Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality is initiating a reactive inspection and is waiting for further details including date and time.