AGREEMENT STATE REPORT - STOLEN TROXLER MOISTURE DENSITY GAUGE
The following information was received from the state of California via email:
"On 4/30/2020, at approximately 1127 [PDT], the RSO [radiation safety officer] of RMA Group, RML Number 8055-19, contacted RHB [California Radiologic Health Branch] Brea concerning a moisture/density gauge, Troxler, model 3440, serial number 25671 (Cs-137, 0.3 GBq, Am-241, 1.50 GBq) that had been stolen from in front of a private apartment complex while the RMA employee was offloading his vehicle. The Troxler radioactive gauge was left on the sidewalk during offloading of the vehicle. [The RMA employee] forgot about the gauge he had left on the sidewalk as he then drove off to have his vehicle washed. When he returned from the carwash at approximately 1730 to 1800 on 4/28/2020, he realized that he had left the radioactive gauge in front of the apartment complex and that it was no longer there. The [RSA employee] finally reported the theft to the RMA RSO on 4/29/2020 at 1215, prior to reporting the theft to Los Angeles Police Department at the West Los Angeles office on 4/29/2020 at 1245. A copy of the theft report and the [employee's] statement has been sent to RHB Brea as part of this report. [The RMA RSO] will utilize local papers to attempt to retrieve the stolen gauge as well as notifying local servicing vendors of radioactive gauges to be alert of the serial number of the stolen gauge in case it turns up for any of their services.
"The investigation will continue to determine if the radioactive gauge can be recovered in a reasonable time frame. This is being reported to the NRC Operations Center as a 24-hour report under 10 CFR 20.220(a)(1)(i) since the radioactive gauge has been stolen with the source handle locked and the Type A transport container locked."
California Report Number 5010-043020
* * * UPDATE FROM DONALD OESTERLE TO DONALD NORWOOD AT 1516 EDT ON 5/4/2020 * * *
The gauge has been recovered intact. A formal closing report will be submitted later.
Notified R4DO (Drake), and via E-mail: NMSS Events Notifications E-mail group, ILTAB, and CNSNA (Mexico).
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 |