Radioactive capsule Western Australia

The tiny piece, which contains dangerous substance Caesium-137, is thought to have broken off on a long-haul truck journey through the outback.

This means that the chance of a member of the public finding the capsule are slim, but Ivan Kempson, an associate professor in Biophysics from the University of Southern Australia, told To aid the search effort authorities are using cars with radiation detection equipment to sweep the road in both directions, going at a speed of 30mph. It is thought that the bumpy road in the outback may have broken the capsule from the device and dislodged a mounting bolt, allowing it to roll freely. Assuming that the tiny capsule cannot be found, what does this mean for those in the region? The gauge was collected from the mine site on 12 January but the missing piece was only noticed when it was inspected in Perth on 25 January. On Tuesday more personnel and new detection equipment were sent out to help the effort, but their search has turned up nothing so far.

Rio Tinto apologizes for losing a radioactive capsule in Western Australia as emergency services scramble to locate the hazardous material.

[Department of Fire and Emergency Services](https://www.dfes.wa.gov.au/) is also worried the capsule could’ve lodged in the tire treads of a vehicle passing by — as rocks and pebbles are wont to do. The small capsule is “part of a gauge used to measure the density of iron ore,” as [Reuters](https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/rio-tinto-apologises-after-radioactive-capsule-lost-australia-2023-01-29/) explains. In any case, Rio is doing its best to find out what happened so the mining company and its contractors avoid dropping radioactive substances in the future. Exactly where the radioactive capsule fell is anybody’s guess, so emergency officials are scouring the entire 870-mile route the truck followed. Rio Tinto stressed that, really, it’s the contractor’s fault — whom Rio Tinto hired in the first place. The mining giant said in a statement that it’s taking the accident very seriously, although the miner was quick to point out it was not, in fact, the company’s fault.

Australian authorities are mounting an extensive search for a tiny radioactive capsule believed to have fallen out of a road train - a truck with multiple ...

Search crews are travelling north and south along the state's Great Northern Highway as well as other sections of the road train's journey with specialised radiation detection equipment. Filled with Caesium-137, it emits radiation equal to 10 X-rays an hour. Here's what you need to know:

A radiation alert remains across parts of Western Australia as officials keep looking for the missing capsule.

It is encapsulated by steel which prevents the radioactive material from escaping. But the risk posed by this missing radioactive capsule is very real. But it wasn’t until nine days later, on January 25, that it was unpacked by mining giant Rio Tinto for inspection - and the loss of the capsule became clear. It’s a 19-GBq (which stands for gigabecquerel, a unit indicating radioactive decay) caesium-137 ceramic source, the sort typically used in radiation gauges. Its loss has triggered a radiation alert for large parts of the state. Authorities said on Monday it would take five days to retrace the truck’s route.

Authorities in Australia are searching for a tiny capsule containing radioactive material that went missing during transport, and they're urging anyone who ...

The more than 700-mile route from Perth to Newman is now the subject of a massive search. Rio Tinto said it had also conducted radiological surveys of areas where the device had been as well as roads in and leading away from the Gudai-Darri mine site. According to the state's Department of Fire and Emergency Services, the capsule was packed up on Jan. 10 for transport by road, and the shipment arrived in Perth on Jan. [said in a statement](https://www.riotinto.com/en/news/missing-capsule-in-wa) that it was sorry for the alarm caused by the missing piece. Andrew Robertson, Western Australia's chief health officer and radiological council chair,

The Australia Radiation and Nuclear Agency has joined the hunt for a potentially deadly radioactive capsule missing in WA. The tiny silver pod — containing ...

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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.

Australia's nuclear safety agency has joined the search for a small but highly radioactive capsule missing ...

Emergency services were notified of the missing capsule on January 25. The mining giant said the contractor was qualified to transport the device and it had been confirmed being on board the truck by a Geiger counter prior to leaving the mine. The capsule, containing a tiny but dangerous substance, was part of a device believed to have fallen off a truck while being transported between a desert mine site and the city of Perth on January 10.

It's like looking for a needle in a haystack -- an 8mm by 6mm silver capsule, no bigger than a coin, believed to be lost somewhere along a stretch of vast ...

If the capsule is never found, it will not contaminate or transfer radioactivity into the surrounding soil,” Deb added. Rio Tinto, one of the world’s biggest mining giants, operates 17 iron ore mines in Western Australia’s Pilbara region. [Radiation Services WA ](https://radiationserviceswa.com.au/missing-radioactive-source-in-western-australia/)says radioactive substances are transported throughout Western Australia on a daily basis without any issues. “Imagine if it was a bird of prey for example that picks up the capsule and carries it away from the (original) search area – there are so many uncertainties and it will pose more problems,” said Dave Sweeney, nuclear policy analyst and environmental advocate at the Australian Conservation Foundation. If a member of the public stumbles upon the capsule in the meantime, authorities have urged them to stay at least 5 meters (16.4 feet) away – though they acknowledge it would be difficult to see from a distance. Pradip Deb, a lecturer and radiation safety officer at RMIT University in Melbourne, said the loss of the capsule was “very unusual” as Australian safety rules require them to be transported in highly protective cases. “In this case, there seems to be a failure of the control measures typically implemented,” it said, adding that it had nothing to do with the capsule’s loss. “We are all exposed to a constant level of radiation from things around us and the foods we eat but the primary concern now is the potential impact on health of the person who would find the capsule.” Ivan Kempson, an associate professor in Biophysics from the University of Southern Australia, said the worst case scenario would be a curious child picking up the capsule and putting it in their pocket. “Upon opening the package, it was found that the gauge was broken apart with one of the four mounting bolts missing and the source itself and all screws on the gauge also missing,” said the Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES). Rio Tinto said it has checked all roads in and out of the mine in remote WA, where the device was located before a contractor collected it for the journey south to the state capital, Perth. Due to the tiny size of the capsule and the huge distances involved, authorities warn the chances of finding it are slim.

Emergency Services Minister Stephen Dawson is providing an update on the search for the missing radioactive capsule at 3pm AWST.

“It was appropriately secured to the trailer at the point of departure and remained secured throughout the journey to its destination,” a spokesman said. The capsule was used in a gauge in a piece of equipment that measured the density of iron ore feed. “It probably was a lot of money in the 1970s and this sort of technology wasn’t even imagined,” she said. Attention will now turn to who pays for the cost of the search and how the capsule was lost in the first place. “It does not appear to have moved, it appears to have fallen off the truck and landed on the side of the road. Klemm said a search team was then deployed to the area and the capsule was found shortly after.