Chemical Agents of Opportunity for Terrorism: TICs & TIMs

Chemical Agents of Opportunity for Terrorism
Training Support Package
Participant Guide
Slide 4
There are an estimated 2 million devices in the USA contain licensed radioactive
sources, but there is no comprehensive national inventory.
Companies have reported losing track of almost 1700 sources since 1998. More than
half have yet to be found. While some sources, such as those for irradiating food, are
meters in size, others, such as those in industrial radiography cameras, are small,
measuring only millimeters in size.
In particular, some of these sources could become detached from their connections and
be lost on a worksite or picked up by someone thinking it was a random piece of metal,
leading to significant exposure, severe local tissue injury, and in some cases, death.
December 2008 Version 2.0 Page 367