The comments about it being "dangerous if disassembled", the general tone of "this is really important/urgent!" and the follow-up saying that it's more dangerous than a smoke detector because these devices contain "considerably more" Am241, lead me to believe that if they do actually "work in civilian nuclear" (and it's not as an accountant, sysadmin, or janitor) they are trying to milk this for attention, even if they know better.
The source could be the size of a golf ball and it'd be completely harmless if you were more than a few inches away because alpha particles are stopped by an inch or so of air. Thus, alpha sources are only dangerous if ingested/inhaled. Am241 emits a very small amount of weak gamma radiation that isn't really worth mentioning.
They mention risk of dust inside the chamber of the device from self-sputtering. That seems like a non-issue given the likely purity of Am241 used and the fact that Am241 sources (such as those in a smoke detector) are bound in a matrix of another material, so if there's sputtering, a good bit of ti will be the matrix, not the Am241. Even if it wasn't in a matrix, the quantity of any self-sputtered material would still be completely inconsequential. We're talking about single atoms of the source being boinked off at a time here, in a really-not-that-radioactive source.
Given that there are no warnings or markings about there being a radioactive source inside, my guess is that the case is just, well, a case - an outer shell, and the actual instrument is inside the outer shell- and if there are any warnings, they'd be on that instrument, which you would see if you were to open it up.
Everyone really needs to understand that this was a near complete non-issue and that the person who retrieved it exposed themselves (and the people around them) to more risk of injury/death just driving to and from where the source ended up.
This is just some furry doing what furries do best - seek attention.
Edit: the person in question is now referring in other 'toots' to themselves as a "protagonist" in "the story of orphan sources." This fuss was definitely for attention. I'm guessing the wikipedia article already exists...
They weren't milking it for attention. At EMF - at least early on - they were deliberately downplaying it to avoid causing a panic until the risk was known. Unfortunately when Atomicmaya's toot[1] dropped, they felt like they had to respond to squash any potential speculation or rumours. (the fear was someone would hear "orphan source" or "nuclear material" and think "Goiana incident, repeat of" -- Goiana was a much stronger caesium-137 gamma source).
Photos of the unit were being circulated privately in case there were more (the donator's identity was unknown at this point). EMF later announced in closing -- and you can see this on the recording [4] -- that they'd like to know if there were only two.
I've done basic risk assessment in a volunteer role and when there were unknowns, we took the path of assuming the worst, and planning for the best until we had more information. I can't really judge Tryst or anyone else for doing the same. In this case the worst-case scenario was a kid or teen at the camp buying it and taking it apart in their tent, and making the source material airborne.
Several people in the Furry Village google were trying to find information on the MIC based on the photos, and at the time we all found nothing.
The thing also very industrial which probably amped up the risk profile a bit further in peoples' minds, because it wasn't an obvious, recognisable, smoke detector.
This evening I googled the part number and sure enough, it's a very spicy (compared to modern ionisation detectors, about 10x the amount of Am241) early-generation smoke detector, and the Am241 is encased in gold. [2] [3]
TLDR: It's low risk, but that wasn't known at the time.
1: https://tech.lgbt/@AtomicMaya/112536889993443251 2: https://forcetechnology.com/-/media/force-technology-media/p... 3: https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ml0037/ml003770968.pdf 4: https://streaming.media.ccc.de/emf2024/relive/551
"I was wondering if you could go over the details of the resolution we discussed on DATE? I'm giving it consideration and just want to make sure I fully understand. On reflection I feel like it could be a great opportunity. Could I put it on my resume'?"
Sometimes they stitch themselves up and it's glorious when it happens.