After a days-long search, experts in Western Australia recovered the radioactive capsule that fell from a truck during a transport. Search teams found the tiny and highly dangerous capsule somewhere along the road in the vast Australian outback, about 50 kilometers south of the remote mining town of Newman.
In western Australia, efforts have been made in recent days to find the miniscule, dangerously radioactive capsule. It had fallen off a truck somewhere on a 900-mile road while being transported from a mining site north of Newman to a depot near the city of Perth.
LOOK. Specialists searched the kilometre-long route. The silver-colored capsule measures about 6 millimeters in diameter and is 8 millimeters in size
Tiny
By measuring radiation along the kilometer-long route (for comparison: it was about the distance between Brussels and Madrid), the authorities hoped to find the tube again. Specialists searched the route with detectors, and the country’s nuclear watchdog, ARPANSA, also sent a team to the scene, using specialized detection equipment mounted on a car, to search the road between the Pilbara region and Perth.
The silver-colored capsule, which contains a small amount of radioactive caesium-137, measures about 6 millimeters in diameter and is 8 millimeters tall, the health authorities said earlier. About the size of a pea.
Eureka
After a search of almost a week, the thing has now been found, Emergency Services Minister Stephen Dawson announced at a press conference on Wednesday. The tube was finally found about 50 kilometers from Newman. The army has taken care of the capsule, the dangerous jewel is being transferred to a secure facility in the city of Perth.
“Given the sheer scope of the research area, finding this object was a monumental challenge,” said Dawson. He speaks of an “extraordinary result”. “The search teams have literally found the needle in the haystack.”
Keep distance
The radioactive capsule is a meter-sized component used in mining to measure the density of iron ore. Authorities previously warned anyone who would notice the object to stay “at least five meters” away. Anyone who is briefly exposed to the radioactive substance caesium-137 risks skin damage, burns or an acute radiation syndrome. Longer exposure can result in cancer and be fatal.
LOOK. Just how dangerous was the lost radioactive capsule?
Excuses
On Monday, mining giant Rio Tinto already apologized for the incident. “We recognize that this is of great concern and apologize for the anxiety this has caused in the Western Australian community,” it said. The company, which reportedly used an outside contractor with the proper permits and experience, also launched its own investigation to find out how this could have happened.
It is possible that the tiny object disappeared from the packaging due to a vibrated loose screw, after which it fell off the truck. That could have happened just two weeks ago. The cargo was picked up in Newman on January 12, but it was not until last week that the capsule was lost.
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