Multijurisdictional Response to Lost and Stolen Radioactive Material

The United States (U.S.) framework for security and control of radioactive sources requires multijurisdictional coordination. Specifically, the national system for recovery of lost and stolen radioactive sources is a cooperative effort between the Federal government, State government, law enforcement agencies, and the private sector. This national system and its capabilities are founded on the principle of protecting both public health and national security. These programs address a wide range of situations involving excess or unwanted sealed sources, as well as lost, stolen, abandoned, or missing sources. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), in partnership with Agreement State regulators, has enhanced the security and control measures for licensees across the U.S. with Category 1 and 2 quantities of radioactive sources listed in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Code of Conduct on the Safety and Security of Radioactive Sources. Compliance with these measures minimizes the likelihood of loss or theft of such radioactive material. In the event of loss or theft, however, licensees have the primary responsibility to recover missing material and must provide timely incident reports to regulators. This paper will focus on past events, the various notifications, incident responses, and recovery operations of missing material that involves a multitude of agencies such as local law enforcement, State radiation control programs, the NRC, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. A case study of a stolen radiography camera in Texas provides an illustrative example of the extensiveness of the processes related to theft of IAEA Category 2 quantity of radioactive material.