Australia's radioactive capsule en route to storage as investigation
begins
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[February 02, 2023]
By Lewis Jackson
SYDNEY (Reuters) - A lost radioactive capsule found after a search along
a 1,400 km stretch of the arid Western Australian outback is due to
arrive in Perth on Thursday evening as investigators work on piecing
together just how it fell from a truck.
The capsule - 6mm in diameter and 8 mm long or about the size of a
tic-tac sweet - was found in the state's remote northwest on Wednesday.
The week-long search retracing the truck's journey involved 100 people
from at least five government agencies using specialised radiation
detection equipment.
Verified by members of Australia's Defence Force and sealed in a lead
container, the Caesium-137 capsule is being escorted to Perth by a team
of 14 that includes nuclear specialists. It will be stored at a facility
that officials declined to identify, citing security reasons.
A search team found it when Australian-invented CORIS360 radiation
equipment mounted to their car driving along the Great Northern Highway
detected gamma rays 74 km south of the town Newman in the state's
Kimberley region.
"Everything spiked and the computers went mad and they hit the brakes
and flew out of the vehicle in excitement," Department of Fire and
Emergency Services Incident Controller Darryl Ray told a news conference
on Thursday.
The team then deployed portable detection equipment, locating the
capsule at 11:13 am local time (0313 GMT) on Wednesday, about 2 metres
from the side of the road.
No one is thought to have been exposed to radiation and the site was not
permanently contaminated, officials said.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese lauded its recovery.
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A view shows a radioactive capsule lying
on the ground, near Newman, Australia, February 1, 2023. Western
Australian Department Of Fire And Emergency Services/Handout via
REUTERS
"Little radioactive, tiny little thing that they were looking for
like a needle in a haystack. But they found it to their great
credit, though," he told a Perth radio station.
The capsule was part of a gauge used at Rio Tinto's Gudai-Darri iron
ore mine. Authorities believe the gauge broke apart on the journey,
dislodging the capsule which then fell out of its crate and from the
truck, a road train with multiple trailers.
Western Australia's Chief Health Officer Andrew Robertson told
reporters on Thursday the investigation would look at how the gauge
was made, operated, packaged and transported.
Prosecutions would be considered under state radiation safety laws
dating to 1975. A report for Western Australia's Health Minister is
due in several weeks.
The maximum penalty for failing to safely handle radioactive
substances is A$1,000 and A$50 per day the offence continues, though
the state government has flagged new rules with bigger penalties.
Officials said any changes would not be retrospective.
Rio Tinto has launched its own investigation and has offered to
reimburse the cost of the search. It has also said it will cooperate
fully with the official investigation.
Subcontractors SGS Australia, responsible for the packaging of the
gauge, and Centurion, responsible for its transportation have also
said they will cooperate.
(Reporting by Lewis Jackson; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
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