Electronic gauge containing radioactive material stolen from site in Waldorf, MD

[Ian David]

GLIDE Number: NC-20070725-12517-USA
Date / time: 25/07/2007 03:39:59
Event: Nuclear Event
Area: North-America
Country: USA
State/County: State of Maryland
City: Waldorf
Number of Deads: None or unknow
Number of Injured: None or unknow
Damage level: Minor

Description:

An electronic gauge that contains small amounts of two radioactive elements was stolen from a construction site in Waldorf on Sunday night, causing Maryland authorities to issue a public alert yesterday. The device, used to measure the density and moisture of such substances as soil and asphalt, contains less than a teaspoon each of cesium-137 and americium-241, officials at the Maryland Department of the Environment said. Both elements are radioactive, but officials said there is little cause for alarm. The tiny amounts taken would not be enough to fuel a radiation-spewing "dirty bomb." "There would need to be quantities about 1,000 times that found in one of these devices . . . to be a true hazard," said Ray Manley, an official dealing with radiological devices at the Department of the Environment.

The device, a Troxler Model 3430, was locked in a large yellow carrying case when it was stolen from the construction site in the 11500 block of Berry Road. Also taken were a trash can, a box of trash bags, a digital camera and five cases of bottled water, the Charles County Sheriff's Office said. Manley said such gauges are stolen once or twice a year in Maryland, typically by thieves who are looking for things to sell or pawn. In some cases, he said, the gauges are found at pawnshops or on the side of a road. "They steal everything that looks valuable," he said. "The thief gets down the street, the radioactive symbol on the device, and -- out the window, into the ditch." Anyone with information about the whereabouts of the device is asked to call the Department of the Environment, at 866-633-4686, or the Charles County Sheriff's Office, at 301-932-2222.

More:
http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/woalert_read.php?lang=eng&cid=12517


See also:

http://www.viinstruments.co.za/troxler/3430_3440.htm





"Pilot needs you in the control room, 1812."

[soothsayer]

1. so they just need to steal 999 more

[NMDemDist2]

2. did they check on eBay? n/t