UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, REGION I
475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pa. 19406
Posted on 10/31/2001 8:25:39 AM PST by hispanarepublicana
Press Release - Region I - 2001-062 - Two Gauges Containing Radioactive Material Reported Stolen in Greater Philadelphia Region
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NRC NEWS
UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, REGION I 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pa. 19406 |
| No. I-01-062 | October 29, 2001 |
| CONTACT: | Diane Screnci (610)337-5330/ e-mail: dps@nrc.gov Neil A. Sheehan (610)337-5331/e-mail: nas@nrc.gov |
TWO GAUGES CONTAINING RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL
REPORTED STOLEN IN GREATER PHILADELPHIA REGION Two portable moisture density gauges containing sealed sources of radioactive material were reportedly stolen in separate incidents last week. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Headquarters Operations Center at (301) 816-5100.
The first incident occurred on October 22 at about 7:45 in the morning. In that case, a gauge was reported stolen from the back of a pick-up truck parked near a work site on Ruan Street, off Frankford Avenue, in Philadelphia. Underwood Engineering Testing Company, Inc., of Mt. Ephraim, N.J., told the NRC the gauge had been secured to the bed of the truck with a chain locked to an "eye" hook. The gauge, chain, lock and hook were all missing.
The gauge contains approximately 8 millicuries of cesium-137 and 40 millicuries of americium-241. The gauge makes its measurements by projecting the radiation from the two radioactive sources into the ground and then displaying the reflected radiation on a dial on top of the gauge.
The gauge, which reportedly was in its transportation case, consists of the shielding container with a plunger-type handle protruding from the top to be used to extend and then retract the radioactive source from the shielded position. When not in use, the handle is normally locked, with the source in the retracted, safely shielded position.
In the second incident, a gauge belonging to Trap Rock Industries of Kingston, N.J, was reportedly stolen from a job site near the intersection of Route 31 and Interstate 95 in Hopewell, N.J., on October 24. It happened at about 10:30 at night. The company told the NRC that a worker had set the gauge aside for a short time and when he returned, it was gone. The gauge contains 8 millicuries of cesium-137.
In both cases, the sources were locked in the shielded position inside the gauges and present no hazard to the public in that configuration. However, any attempt to tamper with the radioactive sources in the gauge would subject the person to radiation exposure. Handling of the unshielded sources outside their container would carry a risk of potentially dangerous radiation exposure.
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I just replied to your question at post # 5, and didn't see your later posting. No offense intended.
What "facilities" are you talking about?
-ccm
I suspect quite often. I saw the plumbing from a housing project at the local copper and brass collector before the housing project even opened, one time.
And in a flood in East St. Louis, it was discovered that the huge steel flood gates were missing- too late, the river already flooded parts of the city. Now, I had driven by those missing gates for years, and the rumors all along had been that the mayor or one of the city officials had used city workers and equipment to haul those puppies down to the scrapyard and cash in. It was quite a surprise to me to hear that the 'official press release' was that the flooding was caused because the gates were 'malfunctioning and stuck open.'
Probably not enough radioactive material to make a glow-in-the-dark watch.
These aren't "facilities". These are individual devices. The person or agency who holds the license is responsible for their security.
Am-241 is an alpha emitter. A few inches of air will stop the particles. It poses an internal dose potential if it is injested. Particulate inhalation is a concern since the lining of the lungs are radiosensitive. Otherwise, well, as others have noted, from an external dose perspective, an in-home smoke alarm poses about as much hazard.
Cesium-137 is a gamma emitter and thus more penetrating. Running the calculation for gamma exposure rate in air, an 8 millicurie source would produce a gamma exposure rate of about 32 mR/hr at one foot in air from the unshielded source. Applying the appropriate quality factor for tissue-equivalent dose, you get the amount of radiation per hour at one foor from this source as you would from a chest x-ray (30 mrem). Certainly not harmful, but in keeping with the ALARA concept, you likely would not want to sleep with this source under your pillow for the next 40 years.
OK. Let's start with the 40 mCi of Americium-241. The dose conversion factor, if you inhale it, is 1.2x10-4Sievert/Bequerel, which is 44.4 rem/mCi. The total dose equivalent, if you inhaled the lot of 40 mCi, is 1776 rem, which is enough to kill you pretty quickly. Anything beyond 600 rem is considered to be guaranteed fatal after 60 days. We are not, however, talking about a huge public health threat. You could poison a few people with it if you didn't dilute it too much and could deliver most of it into their lungs. (Sorry, I couldn't find the ingested dose conversion factors.)
The inhaled dose conversion factor for Cesium-137 is 8.6x10-9 Sv/Bq, which is 3.182x10-3 rem/mCi. The total dose equivalent for 8 mCi is 25 mrem, or about what you typically get in a year's time from cosmic rays.
Translation for the physics-impaired: The amount stolen could be dangerous to a small handful of people if you applied it just right, but basically one bottle of Drain-O would be more of a public health hazard.
And it's not enough to make a radiological bomb out of. Even if someone stole several hundred of these and then scattered their contents evenly over a city, the effects would likely be totally unnoticeable.
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