Missing Nuke Gauge

A construction contractor in PA has reported a nuclear gauge missing from a worker's truck in West Virginia earlier this week.



I received the press release in my email at work yesterday asking all employees to be on the lookout for this missing nuke gauge.

If you see a yellow hard plastic box, please get it to the proper authorities. This can be dangerous exposure to radiation if someone decides to tear it apart.

Hard to say if they knew what they were taking... ?



Appears this is not an out-of-the-ordinary occurance:
Lost and Stolen Nuclear Materials in the United States


"...right now, people are being irradiated..."

Related News Links:
www.d ot.state.pa.us
www.depesf.state.pa.us
www.ki4u.com



[edit on 23-9-2005 by psyopswatcher]

[edit on 27-9-2005 by DJDOHBOY]

I used to service and calibrate these devices. Used in the construction industry for material moisture content and compaction testing.

Usually contain two small radioactive sources of Cesium137 and (if I remember correctly...it's been a long time), Americium241.

I used to see these things run over by Caterpillar earth movers and totally crushed but the sources were still intact.

Most likely the perps didn't know what they were stealing.

I wonder what the total is in regards to all the medical and scientific radioactive materials that go missing. Is there a black market starting up for these items?

Also, missing radioactive waste products could be thrown into this mix.

Blackmarket... I was just going to ask this.

Is there an underground, blackmarket for this kind of stuff?


The email asked us to keep an eye out for it on the side of the road. If the box is intact, it shouldn't be much of a problem. The guys who run them wear tags on their collars to measure how much radiation they are being exposed to. The tags are monitored and if they're taking too much, time to get another job.

If whoever took this decides it is useless and throws it out, some kids might run into it and decide to take a sledge hammer to it.

Then...

Handling of the unshielded sources outside their containers would carry a risk of potentially dangerous radiation exposure.

Then you have your brainiac/smartbutt script kiddies who might want to see what they can do with the Cesium-137 and Ameicium-241.

Sell it on ebay?

god forbid they sell it on ebay. Im really tired so I might have missed it but what does this device do?

Ketoe, it measures density in your highway and bridge materials. Earth compaction also so the constructors know they are building to spec. No meet specee, no payee. It's your govt dollars at work keeping roads to a safe standard by design specifications.

BTW, RANT moved this topic to the military and security section, because of the security risk of loose nuclear material I suppose. I posted it as a news article for public awareness. In case someone dumped it off in your backyard and some kids find it and drag it away along with that old refrigerator that once fell off the truck...

So ask the kids if they've seen it too. Educate them on these dangers out there. When I was a kid, it was blasting caps from old mine shoots we had to look out for. Then it was the mines themselves to stay the hell out of. Now the water leaking out of them...

I imagine just as many people will see it here as in the news section of these boards.

The ebay thing was a lame joke, so defenestrate me.

thank you for the explination. It would be a very bad thing if some boys DO decide to take a hammer to it or sell it on ebay.

I'd never heard the story of David Hahn before, but it made me think of this thread and missing nuclear devices:

en.wikipedia.org...


Which then brings to me this odd site:
Nuke in Houston for Easter


Posting this for those of you who like to keep track of this kind of stuff.

The sources in these boxes cannot be that "hot" so to speak. I have worked around people involved in non destructive testing.. ie...X Ray. They often use a radium source and for heavy thick X Rays they will use a cobalt source. These sources are contained and transported in heavy lead lined containers. the Cobalt source is such that it needs to be lifted into place by cranes as it is really heavy. The radium sources in their containers can be carried by one man but they are not light.
These sources are contained in a plastic box. This tells me that they are not all that highly radioactive as say the radium described. If they were all that hot they would be in a lead lined container.
These mantles used in these Coleman lanterns, the ones using white gas and you pump them up. These mantles are radioactive and can be picked up by measuring devides/counters. THe public would be surprised to know what is around them often which emits low levels of radiation...including smoke detectors.
All I have to know is that it is stored and transported in a plastic box to have a idea of what are the levels of radioactivity. Not much.

Thanks,
Orangetom