Alert! Dangerous Nuclear gauge stolen in car burglary

TULSA, Okla. (AP) -- Tulsa police are looking for a large moisture and density gauge that contains dangerous radioactive material that was stolen from a car overnight.

The device was locked inside a vehicle in east Tulsa Wednesday night, and the car's owner discovered the gauge missing Thursday morning.

The device is manufactured by Humboldt Manufacturing and is used to measure moisture and density in soils, concrete and asphalt.

The gauge contains Cesium 137, an extremely toxic radioactive isotope

www.kjrh.com...

If there was discussion regarding this already, I apologise, but this is a serious issue.

I can't imagine why on earth an extremely toxic radioactive isotope would be "kept in someones car overnight."

After searcing news sites, I can't seem to find any follow-up on this article, does anyone know if it has been found?

[edit on 29-10-2007 by EsseVi]

I don't think this is anything too much to worry about, but I could be wrong. Couldn't a potential terrorist go to Humboldt Manufacturing and just buy one?

Edit: OK, you need to have a license to buy one of these, but I found out that the amount of Cesium-137 is VERY small. I think it would take the theft of hundreds of these units to make a bomb.

[edit on 10-29-2007 by nyarlathotep]

I found only one more article and it states that it "could be harmful" and that "the gauge contains Cesium 137, an extremely toxic radioactive isotope."

I don't pretend to know much about Cesium 137, but my fears are more in line with this substance being added to our water supply or something along that line.

Here is the other article with a plea to Crimestoppers.

www.kotv.com...

Originally posted by EsseVi
I found only one more article and it states that it "could be harmful" and that "the gauge contains Cesium 137, an extremely toxic radioactive isotope."

I don't pretend to know much about Cesium 137, but my fears are more in line with this substance being added to our water supply or something along that line.

Here is the other article with a plea to Crimestoppers.

www.kotv.com...

I understand what you are saying, but the amount of Cesium-137 inside the gauge is nothing to worry about. In fact, Cesium-137 is used in radiotherapy.

Well, I am getting educated on this. I guess you would not want to add this to water at all.

Precautions
All alkali metals are highly reactive. Caesium, being one of the heavier alkali metals, is also one of the most reactive and is highly explosive when it comes in contact with water, as the hydrogen gas produced by the reaction is heated by the thermal energy released at the same time, causing ignition, and a violent explosion (the same as all alkali metals) - but caesium is so reactive, this explosive reaction can even be triggered by cold water or ice. Caesium hydroxide is an extremely strong base, and can etch glass.

Caesium compounds are encountered rarely by most persons. All caesium compounds should be regarded as mildly toxic because of its chemical similarity to potassium. Large amounts cause hyperirritability and spasms, but such amounts would not ordinarily be encountered in natural sources, so Cs is not a major chemical environmental pollutant. Rats fed caesium in place of potassium in their diet die, so this element cannot replace potassium in function.

The isotopes 134Cs and 137Cs (present in the biosphere in small amounts as a result of radiation leaks) represent a radioactivity burden which varies depending on location. Radiocaesium does not accumulate in the body as effectively as many other fission products (such as radioiodine and radiostrontium), which are actively accumulated by the body.

en.wikipedia.org...

Originally posted by EsseVi
I don't pretend to know much about Cesium 137, but my fears are more in line with this substance being added to our water supply or something along that line.

Haha, I'd like to see that happen.

reply to post by MrDead


Yes, it would definitely be some special caesium to do that wouldn't it. more like, i hope it doesn't blow up the water supply.

On topic I don't think it is necessary to worry about this. in my opinion radioactivity is really over hyped by the media. As for precautions with regard to Caesium:

All alkali metals are highly reactive. Caesium, being one of the heavier alkali metals, is also one of the most reactive and is highly explosive when it comes in contact with water, as the hydrogen gas produced by the reaction is heated by the thermal energy released at the same time, causing ignition, and a violent explosion (the same as all alkali metals) - but caesium is so reactive, this explosive reaction can even be triggered by cold water or ice. Caesium hydroxide is an extremely strong base, and can etch glass.

Caesium compounds are encountered rarely by most persons. All caesium compounds should be regarded as mildly toxic because of its chemical similarity to potassium. Large amounts cause hyperirritability and spasms, but such amounts would not ordinarily be encountered in natural sources, so Cs is not a major chemical environmental pollutant. Rats fed caesium in place of potassium in their diet die, so this element cannot replace potassium in function.

The isotopes 134Cs and 137Cs (present in the biosphere in small amounts as a result of radiation leaks) represent a radioactivity burden which varies depending on location. Radiocaesium does not accumulate in the body as effectively as many other fission products (such as radioiodine and radiostrontium), which are actively accumulated by the body.

Also, the half-life of Caesium is relatively long in comparison to other radioactive sources, being around 30 years. This means that it will decay reasonably slowly, though not as slow as some radioisotopes. Caesium-137 is a beta emitter, and beta radiation is stopped relatively easily, by thin metal, in fact I would expect it to be stopped by the actual gauge it is in really easily.

Also, since it has a relatively long half life, and is a beta emitter, it would make for a poor dirty bomb material. A better dirty bomb would be made from an alpha emitter with a relatively short half life, since then more particles would be released faster, and if the radioisotope is inhaled, the alpha particles will cause a lot of damage, whereas beta radiation is weakly ionising.

People steal things hoping to make money.

Many years ago I worked for a drug manufacturer. We had a product that was radioactive and which was used in hospitals. The driver doing the regular weekly delivery picked up some units of these at the airport but made a stop during the delivery run. Someone stole one from his vehicle. It was found later sitting in a parking lot. Guess the crook figured out what the radioactive symbol meant.

Same thing back then. I really believe it's just a thief hoping for some easy cash. I can hear the guy saying 'I don't know what it is but it looked cool and expensive'.

My highschool had cesium 137 for use in inverse square law practical experiments, and a few other basic physics stuff..

It's radioactive, sure, but not that dangerous in small amounts.. We're indoctrinated to fear whenever we hear the word radioactive, though.

Originally posted by nyarlathotep
I don't think this is anything too much to worry about, but I could be wrong. Couldn't a potential terrorist go to Humboldt Manufacturing and just buy one?

Edit: OK, you need to have a license to buy one of these, but I found out that the amount of Cesium-137 is VERY small. I think it would take the theft of hundreds of these units to make a bomb.

[edit on 10-29-2007 by nyarlathotep]

Yheah your right, a company can apply for a licence that will allow them to purchase only a certain amount of these sort of devices.

However I remember reading a story (I'll have to do digging to find it) where by some sort of watchdog organisation invented a fictional company and obtained the licence for something like 10 devices. They then altered it to allow them to purchase something like a 1000 - as they only had to fax a copy of the cert forging was very straight forward. They then proceeded to place large orders with as many suppliers as they could, only when enough orders were confirmed for them to acquire enough devices to make a substantial dirty bomb did they reveal what they were up to and cancelled all the orders.

Mind you the same result could of been achieved with something like 10.000 smoke detectors.

I used to service / calibrate these devices in a previous job years ago.
The radioactive sources are encapsulated (Tungsten if I remember correctly) and then sealed into the unit. You'd need a sledgehammer to remove the encapsulated source then high explosives to get at the actual source

I have seen these things run over by huge earthmovers and rollers on road projects and never once has the actual radioactive source been compromised.