It was like finding a needle in a haystack: for days, civil protection workers in Western Australia were looking for a tiny, highly radioactive capsule. Now she is found. “Western Australians will be able to get a better night’s sleep tonight,” said Regional Disaster Management Secretary Stephen Dawson.
A tiny, highly radioactive capsule that was lost in the Australian state of Western Australia has been found. According to the regional government, the capsule belonging to the mining giant Rio Tinto was found in the morning after it disappeared during transport about two weeks ago. “It’s really a needle in a haystack that has been found and I think Western Australians will be able to sleep better tonight,” said Regional Emergencies Secretary Stephen Dawson.
The eight by six millimeter large and very dangerous capsule fell between January 12 and 16 while being transported from an iron ore mine near the mining town of Newman to Perth on a 1400-kilometer route from the truck of a Rio Tinto subcontractor. Their loss was only discovered when they were unloaded, days later.
After the loss became known, the health authorities had warned the population not to approach the capsule less than five meters: it contained so much highly radioactive cesium-137 that staying within a meter radius had an effect on the human body like “ten X-ray treatments per hour” and could trigger acute radiation sickness.
In the search for the capsule, which is not even the size of a 1 cent euro coin, the authorities used portable radiation detectors mounted on vehicles, which can detect increased radiation within a radius of 20 meters.