AGREEMENT STATE REPORT - STOLEN DENSITY GAUGE
The following is a synopsis of a event reported by the state of Texas via email and phone call:
On February 24, 2020, the Texas Department of State Health Services (Agency) was contacted by the Braun Intertec Corporation RSO to report a stolen moisture density gauge.
The gauge was last seen on February 19, 2020 at the end of work in McKinney Texas. It was locked in a box in the back of a truck which was then driven to Euless, Texas where it reported to stay until February 24, 2020. The truck was then driven to a jobsite in Richardson, TX on February 24, 2020 at which point the employee realized that the locks were gone and the moisture density gauge was removed from the box in the back of the truck.
Euless Police were notified.
The activity for the density gauge is estimated to be 10 mCi Cs-137 and 40 mCi of Am241/Be.
An investigation into this event is ongoing. More information will be provided when obtained in accordance with SA- 300.
Texas Incident number: 9746
* * * UPDATE ON 6/18/20 AT 1721 EDT FROM KAREN BLANCHARD TO ANDREW WAUGH * * *
The following information was received from the state of Texas via email:
"On June 17, 2020, the Agency was notified by a steel mill in Midlothian, Texas, that it had found a moisture/density gauge in a load of metal from a recycler. The serial number was checked and it was determined to be this licensee's gauge that was stolen February 24, 2020. The licensee was notified and picked up the device on June 18, 2020. The licensee transported the device to a manufacturer's facility in Arlington, Texas, and transferred it for disposal. The manufacturer will complete leak tests and provide the licensee with the results. [There were] no exposures that would exceed any regulatory limit at the steel mill. Investigation will continue to determine if any exposures occurred at the recycler and if the recycler can provide information on where, or from whom, it got the device.
"More information will be provided as it is obtained in accordance with SA-300."
Notified R4DO (Warnick), NMSS Events Notification (email), ILTAB (email), and CNSNS (email).
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 |