AGREEMENT STATE - LOST OR STOLEN X-RAY FLUORESCENCE DEVICE
The following report was sent from the State of Washington via email:
"On 22 July, 2009 [the Washington State Office of Radiation Protection] received a report of a missing XRF device. On 20 July, 2009, an employee at Cole & Associates, failed to report to work and has yet to contact employer's office as to their whereabouts. The employee has not been seen nor heard from. The employee was performing inspections at the Veterans Hospital in Tacoma, Washington, the employee's home town. The employee had in their possession a Thermo Fischer Scientific Niton XL 309 X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) device, serial number U2615TRO459, with an 14 millicurie Cadmium-109 source dated 11/15/2008.
"The XRF device is used exclusively for lead analysis in paint. Thermo Fisher Scientific has been notified and will alert the licensee if anyone turns in the unit in to them. A report was also filed with the Kent police."
Washington Report WA-09-049. Cadmium-109 has a half life of 462 days.
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. |