Australia: Radioactive capsule discovered – 20 mins

After days of searching, experts in Western Australia He finds a radioactive capsule that fell from the truck. ABC reported Wednesday, citing the regional government, that response teams found the small and highly dangerous capsule 50 kilometers south of the mining town of Newman.

Between January 12 and 16, an eight-by-six millimeter capsule from a truck owned by a Rio Tinto contractor was transported 1,400 kilometers from an iron ore mine near the mining town of Newman to Perth. It was only when they were unloaded a few days later that their loss was discovered. Since then, experts have used the detectors to search 1,400 kilometers of the track. “It’s really been a needle in the haystack and I think Western Australians can sleep well tonight,” regional disaster relief secretary Stephen Dawson said.

The capsule fell out of the wooden box

The meter, with its built-in capsule, was perfectly packed in a bolted wooden case From a mine in the remote Kimberley region of Western Australia Transported to a camp in Perth. Vibrations from the truck may have separated from the capsule volume and fallen through the bolt hole onto the surface of the truck and onto the road.

After the loss became known, health authorities warned people not to approach the capsule less than five meters: it contained highly radioactive cesium-137, which, being at a radius of one meter, had the same effect on the human body as “ten”. X-ray treatments” per hour and can induce severe radiation sickness.

In searching for the capsule, officials used vehicle-mounted portable radiation detectors that can detect increased radiation within a 20-meter radius.

(DPA/AFP/fur/jar)