STOLEN NITON METAL ANALYZER
The licensee possessed a Niton Metal Analyzer (believed to be a Model XRF but not certain). The analyzer is used for scrap metal alloy analysis. The analyzer was inadvertently left in the company truck which was being used for personal business. The truck was broken into while parked at a hotel in Humble, Texas (Country Heart Inn and Suites) and the Niton Analyzer was stolen. The licensee did not know the source in the analyzer. Based on information found on the internet it is believed to be a 40millicurie Cadmium-109 source. The licensee plans to file a police report.
R4DO (Shannon) will ensure that the State of Texas is notified.
* * * UPDATE FROM DARREL WIEDEMAN TO JOE O'HARA AT 1308 ON 6/12/07 * * *
Mr. Wiedeman reports that the metal analyzer has been found abandoned in an empty field near Humble, Texas. The individuals who found the device notified the owner via the contact information on the device. The owner's representative is on the way from Indiana to Texas to take custody of the analyzer. Additionally, the device has a 30 millicurie Am-241source, not Cadmium -109, as previously reported.
Mr. Wiedeman notified Randy Erickson (R4 State Liaison) and State of Texas.
Notified R3DO(Phillips), R4DO(Hay), FSME(Morell), ILTAB(via email), and Mexico(via fax).
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.
This source is not amongst those sources or devices identified by the IAEA Code of Conduct for the Safety & Security of Radioactive Sources to be of concern from a radiological standpoint. Therefore is it being categorized as a less than Category 3 source |