Potentially Dangerous Nuclear Gauge Stolen With Car In Philly



by Alex Lloyd Gross

 

April 15, 2022

People will steal anything. People have stolen cars with children in them and now, someone has stolen a car from somewhere in Philadelphia  with a nuclear gauge inside. This device is used to test soil samples and contains radioactive material, the Department of Environmental Protection said. This must be handled by someone with training and experience. If someone finds it, they should leave it be and keep away from it.  Do not try to touch it. Do not pry it open to see what is inside or how it works.

What is inside, is 8 millicuries of Cesium-137 and 40 millicuries of Americium-241. The radioactive material is in a double encapsulated source capsule within the device to protect its integrity, the DEP said.  The car it was in was recovered but not the device.

It is a yellow box. It is a  Troxler Model 3440, serial number 31109. The gauge is yellow in color and about the size of a shoe box, with an electronic keypad and a metal rod extending from the top surface.  It has no value for scrap and can make someone sick if they mishandle it.

EP officials warned anyone who finds the gauge to stay maintain a considerable distance from the device and contact the DEP’s Southeast Regional Office at (484)250-5900.

Police did not say where the vehicle was stolen from or where it was recovered. It belongs to KAKS and Company in Montgomery County Pa.