How a tiny radioactive capsule was found in Australia's vast outback - BBC News

Australian experts joined forces and methodically tracked down the hazardous pea-sized device.

1 day agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Western Australian GovernmentImage caption, The hazardous device was ultimately found near the town of Newman, located along a 1400 km (870 mile) route from the Gudai-Darri mine to PerthBy Antoinette RadfordBBC NewsOn 25 January, when mining company Rio Tinto reported that one of their Caesium-137 radioactive capsules had gone missing, Western Australian authorities faced a seemingly impossible task.

They had to locate a pea-sized capsule anywhere along a 1,400km (870 mile) route stretching from the Gudai-Darri mine in the north of the state to a depot just north of Perth's city centre.

Authorities sprung into action, mobilising specialist search crews to look for the capsule, with firefighters among those asked to foray from their usual summer tasks.

Experts were called in from across the country: nuclear science specialists, the emergency management agency and radiation protection officials.

Authorities believed the capsule had fallen off a radiation gauge that was being transported from a Rio Tinto mine site on 12 January to a storage facility in the north-eastern suburbs of Perth.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-64483271?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA

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