PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Pennsylvania officials are asking the public to help them find a missing and possibly damaged portable nuclear gauge that had been inside a stolen car found in Philadelphia. Exposure to the gauge's radioactive material can increase the risk of cancer.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection said that KAKS and Company, a construction inspecting and testing company out of Harleysville in Montgomery County, owns the device called a Troxler Model 3440 with serial number 31109.
They use it to evaluate contamination in building and road materials.
Someone had stolen a vehicle in Philadelphia with the gauge inside it, the DEP said. When the vehicle was found, the device was no longer there.
When undamaged, the device safely keeps radioactive materials contained within a double capsule.
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However, officials are concerned that the gauge was damaged during the theft, and they say that if someone or something strikes or damages the gauge, radioactive contamination could spread.
The DEP said that the gauge includes eight millicuries of Cesium-137 and 40 millicuries of Americium-241. The CDC and EPA that large-scale exposure to Cesium-137 can “cause burns, acute radiation sickness, and even death,” and exposure to either material can increase the risk of cancer.
The DEP asks people that if they see the device, they should avoid contacting the device, stay far away from it and call the DEP regional office at 484-250-5900.
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“It is critical for anyone who has information about the lost nuclear gauge to contact local authorities or DEP,” DEP Bureau of Radiation Protection Director David Allard said in a news release.
“As long as the device is not tampered with or damaged, it presents no hazard to public safety.”
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