A Troxler Model 3440 is used by construction businesses to determine if there are any radioactive substances on the work site. But for the second time in six months another portable nuclear device has gone missing in Eastern Pennsylvania leading to many questions.
According to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, a portable nuclear device used within construction mysteriously disappeared on Friday (DEP).
The missing nuclear gauge, according to the DEP, contains “sealed sources of radioactive material” belonging to a construction firm in Harleysville, Pennsylvania. When the item was robbed, it was locked in a car. Although the vehicle was found, the device “was no longer inside and may have been discarded,” according to the DEP.
If somehow the equipment is “badly damaged,” the government body warns, there’s also a risk of “potential for damage to the radioactive source and spread of contamination.”
Troxler Model 3440 is the nuclear device. It is used by construction businesses to determine if there are any radioactive substances on the work site. Cesium-137 and Americium-241 are found in the Troxler gauge.
The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) shared a photo of the missing item on Twitter.
“Anyone who finds the gauge should not handle it directly, but rather maintain distance, limit time of proximity, and immediately contact local authorities or the DEP’s Southeast Regional Office at 484-250-5900,” the DEP tweeted. “A trained individual will recover the gauge.”
A Troxler Model 3440 has disappeared without a trace in Pennsylvania for the second time in approximately six months. Another device was “inadvertently” placed at a job site in October, according to the DEP. It was eventually recovered, but the fact that similar problems sprang up again in such a short time raises a lot of questions.