Radioactive capsule found

Coin-sized radioactive device, missing for more than two weeks in WA, posed a significant public health risk.

“When you consider the scope of the research area, locating this object was a monumental challenge,” he said. They are widely used in the mining, and oil and gas industries. It wasn’t until nine days later, on 25 January, that it was discovered missing when the package was unpacked for inspection. It was initially detected by staff inside a car that was travelling at 70km/h past the capsule. “It appears to have fallen off the truck and landed by the side of the road. The Australian defence force is now verifying the small radioactive device by its serial number.

Emergency Services say they have 'quite literally found the needle in the haystack' after nearly a week-long search.

Authorities suspect vibrations on the bumpy road loosened screws and a bolt on the gauge letting the capsule fall out. “The current fine system is unacceptably low,” state health minister Amber-Jade Sanderson told the news conference. After nearly a week-long search, Emergency Services announced in a news conference on Wednesday that the military was verifying the capsule – which was found on the side of the road just outside Newman – and would take it to a secure facility in Perth.

Emergency services have found a tiny radioactive capsule near Newman, ending a large-scale interagency search for the missing object.

"This is a great result for the community of Western Australia." "As I have mentioned previously, to be at risk of radiation exposure you need to be close to the source for a period of time," Dr Robertson said. "I want to thank everyone involved in the search - we called on a large number of agencies to assist and this was a great example of working together to achieve an outstanding result."

The device, used in Rio Tinto's mining operations, fell off the back of a truck as it was taken by a third-party specialist for repairs.

I'd like to apologise to the wider community of Western Australia for the concern it has generated," he said. Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto said it was assisting in the operation. The gauge was being taken to a specialist center in Perth for repairs and arrived on Jan. But the capsule was not discovered missing until Jan. The capsule was reported missing following a 1,400-kilometer journey through a rural region. 25 and is thought to have come loose on the bumpy road.

Authorities in Western Australia say they have found a tiny radioactive capsule which went missing last month. Emergency services had "literally found the ...

Only one in five of Western Australia's population lives outside of Perth, the state's capital. The search area for the lost capsule was huge. the amount of natural radiation we would receive in a year, just by walking around," said Western Australia's chief health officer Andrew Robertson earlier this week. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told a news conference in Perth that the current fine for failing to safely handle radioactive substances is "ridiculously low". One of four mounting bolts and screws were also missing. "The simple fact is the device should never have been lost," said the head of the company's iron ore division, Simon Trott.

The health effects of coming into contact with a radioactive capsule no bigger than a coin that is currently lost in Western Australia could potentially be ...

An investigation will look into how the capsule was packaged and transported. 25, the inspectors found that the gauge was broken apart, the DFES said. The capsule had been packaged on Jan. The search parties are driving north and south along the Great Northern Highway at slow speeds in hopes of finding the capsule, the DFES said in a statement. At 1.665 millisieverts per hour, the unit of measurement used for radiation, coming into 1 meter of the source is comparable to about 17 chest X-rays, Di Fulvio said. There also is a concern of the potential that the capsule may have become lodged in the tire of another vehicle and could be hundreds of miles away from the search area, according to the AP.