Police Recover Nuclear Density Gauge With Ties to Berlin Company

TOLLAND, CT — State police said they have recovered a device containing radioactive material with ties to a Berlin company that had been in a car stolen from Tolland on June 30.

The device, called The Troxler, is a portable testing gauge used to record soil density measurements. It was was locked in the trunk of a 2009 Honda Accord owned by an employee of Tri-State Testing Lab of Berlin.

State police said the device was located Monday at 3:20 p.m. in Hartford after a collaborative investigative effort involving the Eastern District Major Crimes Squad Emergency Services Unit, Somers Resident Troopers and the Mass Transit Unit.

Troopers assigned to the Mass Transit Unit determined that the device was not breached and that there was "no harm to the general public," state police said.

Both the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission and state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection were notified, state police said. The DEEP's state physicist responded to the scene and confirmed the device was not breached, state police said.

State police said the investgation remains active and "warrants are pending."

The gauge takes the density measurements by projecting the radiation from the two radioactive sources into the ground and then displaying the reflected radiation on a dial on its top, according to state police.

The gauge, which is stored in a yellow protective transportation case, consists of a shielding container with a plunger-type handle protruding from the top, state police said.

The gauge does include mechanisms that prevent the spread of radiation, according to authorities.