A Radioactive Container Is Missing From Downstate Illinois

By Kate Shepherd in News on Oct 20, 2015 9:06PM

IEMA via WISH-TV

A radioactive container has disappeared and federal and state officials are combing 18 counties in Illinois and Indiana for the dangerous object.

Fairfield-based Wayne County Well Surveys, Inc. told the Illinois Emergency Management Agency that it was not able to locate a "radioactive well logging source holder" on Friday, according to WISH-TV.

The 75-pound silver device was last known to be in a company vehicle and is about 12 inches tall with a 14-inch diameter, according to the AP. Officials are searching Clay, Cumberland, Edwards, Effingham, Franklin, Hamilton, Jasper, Jefferson, Macon, Marion, Moultrie, Richland, Shelby, Wabash, Wayne and White counties in Illinois and Gibson and Pike counties in Indiana.

The container has Americium in it, which can act like an X-ray and make petroleum exploration more efficient, Illinois Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman Patti Thompson told the AP. The person who finds the device would not be subject to dangerous radiation exposure but it should not be moved, approached or opened.

It's not likely that the radioactive container could be used for "malicious purposes", Thompson said to the AP.

Anyone with information about the device is asked to contact police.