Gauge Containing Radioactive Materials Returned

Main Category: Radiology / Nuclear Medicine
Article Date: 05 Sep 2008 - 1:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   view / write opinions   rate article

The Office of Radiation Control of the Alabama Department of Public Health has been notified that an industrial gauging device containing radioactive materials has been returned undamaged to its owner.

The gauge was reported missing Thursday after it had fallen off of a pickup truck in Jefferson County. It was turned in to the Irondale Police Department Sunday. The owners, Birmingham Engineering and Construction Consultants, Inc., then picked up the device.

Health officials were told that the gauge's source rod was locked in place and only had a few scratches from its fall to the pavement. The radioactive sources are secured inside the device by a locking mechanism and present no significant hazard to the finder unless the lock is defeated and the sources removed from the internal shield.

Alabama Department of Public Health