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From: rlawler@dfw.net (Rick Lawler)
Subject: SNET: UPDATE: Radioactive Camera
To: snetnews@world.std.com
Date: Sat, 20 Sep 1997 21:18:09 -0500 (CDT)
-> SearchNet's SNETNEWS Mailing List
www.tulsaworld.com/scripts/tulsaworld.dll/STORY?970918_Ne_a15hot
Hot Item In Truck Also `Hot'
Nicole Marshall World Staff Writer
9/19/97
A stolen pickup contains an X-ray camera with enough radioactive
material to kill someone.
An industrial X-ray camera containing enough radioactive
material to injure or kill someone up to 200 feet away was in the
back of a pickup that was stolen Thursday morning.
A spokesman with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said that to
be exposed to radiation, someone "would have to make a concerted
effort" to break into the radiographic camera; however, if the
radioactive source is exposed, it could cause serious injury
without warning.
Inside the camera is Iridium 192, a radioactive isotope used to
make X-rays. Someone exposed to the radioactive source would feel
the effects of radiation poisoning after a few hours, said Breck
Henderson, a spokesman with the regional office of the NRC in
Arlington, Texas.
Close contact -- for even a few minutes -- could cause burns and
tissue damage, authorities said.
"It is something you would really want to stay away from,"
Henderson said.
The stolen radiographic camera is owned by Bill Miller of
Henryetta, who operates an industrial X-ray business. An employee
of his company has been staying at the Gateway Motel, 5649 W.
Skelly Drive, while working on a pipeline near Oologah Lake.
Miller said the employee went to his pickup about 6 a.m.
Thursday to leave for work. He found that the truck -- and the
radiographic camera that was locked in its camper -- were gone.
Miller said he notified the NRC, which licensed his company to
have the device, and the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office as soon as
he learned that the truck and camera had been stolen.
Henderson said the camera is used to take pictures of welds on
steel pipes. It is metal and about the size of a medium picnic
cooler. The camera has a handle on it and is clearly marked as
being radioactive, he said.
"The source, which is radioactive, is locked inside the camera
itself, which has a lead shield around it," Henderson said.
"Someone would have to make a concerted effort to break it. It is
locked in there."
Henderson said it is not likely that the source, which looks like
a wire cable with a bead at the end of it, would become exposed by
itself or without considerable effort.
Henderson said that if someone was within 200 feet of the
exposed radioactive source for several hours, he or she could show
signs of radiation poisoning, such as vomiting, from the release of
gamma rays. He said the injuries caused by the exposure could be
fatal.
"As long as the source is inside the camera, it is safe. If anyone
should find the thing, they should call the authorities as soon as
possible," Henderson said.
Tulsa County Sheriff's Office Lt. Tim Albin said deputies were
searching Thursday night for the truck and the camera.
Albin said the truck is a maroon 1992 Chevrolet extended-
cab pickup with a white camper. Its license tag bears the number
T80012.
Henderson said about five or six radiographic cameras are
reported missing each year.
"It is fairly common. There are a lot of radiographers out there
in industry," he said.
"Most people who take them do not know what they have,
and they just dump them on the side of the road somewhere."
end
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