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Radioactive material reported missing from demolition site
Radioactive material reported missing from demolition site
Wednesday February 11, 2004
http://wcbs880.com/njnews/NJ--RadioactiveMateri-jn/resources_news_html
EAST ORANGE, N.J. (AP) Authorities are looking for two sealed
sources of radioactive material reported missing from a
demolition site, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said
Wednesday.
A worker left the moisture density gauge at the site of the
former Arcadian Gardens housing project at lunchtime Monday and
returned to find the crushed remains of the gauge and the
radioactive sources missing, said NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan.
The amount of radioactive material involved is not considered to
be significant, but officials are concerned that someone with
prolonged contact could receive harmful amounts of radiation
exposure.
``This on its own would probably be insufficient to build any
sort of terrorist device, but the biggest concern for us is that
members of the public might be unwittingly exposed to this,''
Sheehan said Wednesday evening.
Portable moisture density gauges can be used to measure the
amount of moisture in soil. The device projects radiation from
the two sources into the ground and then displays the reflected
radiation on a dial on top of the gauge, the NRC said in a news
release.
The gauge emits about 3 rems of radiation per hour, Sheehan said.
By comparison, the average American receives about 360 millirems
every year from manmade and natural sources. One rem is equal to
1,000 millirems.
A number of moisture density gauges go missing every year
nationwide, but Sheehan said many of them are returned once
people realize what they have.
``It appears pretty clear that this device was damaged for
whatever reason,'' Sheehan said. ``Either the sources were placed
with some other demolition material and they have not been able
to find it or someone who didn't know what they had walked off
with this.''
The company using the gauge, PMK Group, Inc., has until the close
of business Thursday to submit a search plan to the NRC for the
missing sources.
If the materials are still missing by Friday, the company must
put together a list of every person present at the site on
Monday. They also must provide a description to those who may
have come into contact with the sources.
A message left at the firm after-hours Wednesday was not
immediately returned.
(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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