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Australia

How a Tiny Radioactive Capsule Was Found In Western Australia (bbc.com) 85

Posted by BeauHD from the needle-in-the-haystack dept.
A radioactive capsule that was reported lost in Western Australia on January 25 has been found. The BBC reports: On 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, mobilizing specialist search crews to look for the capsule, with firefighters among those asked to foray from their usual summer tasks. [...] Before notifying the public to the threat, on 26 January, authorities began searching in Perth and around the mine site in Newman.

On January 27, an urgent health warning was issued to notify the public about the risk posed by the radioactive capsule. Health authorities had a simple message to anyone who may come across it: Stay away. "It emits both beta rays and gamma rays so if you have it close to you, you could either end up with skin damage including skin burns," the state's Chief Health Officer Andy Robertson warned. By January 27, search parties were in full force looking for the tiny capsule. But they were not scouting for it using their eyes - they were using portable radiation survey meters. The survey meters are designed to detect radioactivity within a 20m radius. Police focused their efforts on the GPS route the truck had taken, and on sites close to Perth's metropolitan and high-density areas. One site along the Great Northern Highway was prioritized by police on 28 January after unusual activity on a Geiger counter - a device used for measuring radioactivity - was reported by a member of public. But that search did not uncover the capsule.

The next day, additional resources requested from Australia's federal government had been approved and those overseeing the search began planning its next phase. With the new equipment in Western Australia and ready for use by 30 January, the search ramped up. An incident controller at the state's emergency services department, Darryl Ray, described the new tools provided by the government only as "specialized radiation detection equipment." Local media reported that radiation portal monitors and a gamma-ray spectrometer were among the new items being used by search crews. But by the end of 31 January, the capsule continued to evade search crews.

So the next morning, when the government revealed the capsule had been found just two meters off the side of the highway at 11:13 local time Wednesday, it seemed the all-but-impossible had been achieved. "You can only imagine it's a pretty lonely stretch of road from Newman down to Perth," Fire and Emergency Services Commissioner Darren Klemm said at a press conference on Wednesday. "You can't help but imagine there was an element of surprise from the people in the car when the equipment did spike up." While hesitant to give the exact location the radioactive capsule was found, Mr Klemm described it as "the best possible outcome." Local media reports suggest it was found some 74km from Newman - so around 200km from the mine site. No one appeared to have been injured by the capsule, according to authorities, and it did not seem to have moved from where it fell. Mr Klemm said the additional resources from the federal government proved key to finding the capsule.
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How a Tiny Radioactive Capsule Was Found In Western Australia More

How a Tiny Radioactive Capsule Was Found In Western Australia

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  • How much money did it cost to find a pea sized capsule and who gets stuck with the bill? Haha

    • Re:Let's all hold hands and sing kumbaya (Score:5, Informative)

      by youngone ( 975102 ) on Wednesday February 01, 2023 @10:24PM (#63258831)
      From the BBC piece linked above:

      The chair of Australia's Radiological Council will now investigate exactly how the capsule was misplaced in the first place.
      The outcome of the report will determine whether or not charges are laid against Rio Tinto.
      After the capsule was found the Chief Executive of Rio Tinto, Simon Trott, said the company would "fully cooperate" with the investigation.
      He added that Rio Tinto would foot the bill for the search if the government requested it.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by hoofie ( 201045 )

        Rio wasn't transporting it - a specialist contractor was.

        There has been no report that Rio even owned the source.

        Rio are front and center for PR but absolutely shit lazy reporting by the BBC as usual.

        • I heard Rio Tinto CEO taking resposibility and agreeing to pay the vosts this morning on the radio, now why would they do that if they are not responsible?

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by suutar ( 1860506 )

            Because it's better publicity than looking like they're shifting the blame. If they do get asked to pay it, they will almost certainly be extracting as much as they can from the subcontractor.

        • Because Rio tino has such a terrible public relations image at the moment they've probably figured out at this point that they need to be out front about any new scandals, big or small. So kudos for realizing everyone hates you.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by MrKaos ( 858439 )

        From the BBC piece linked above:

        He added that Rio Tinto would foot the bill for the search if the government requested it.

        Also responsible for a radioactive sulfuric acid in World Heritage National park. 200 Megalitres IIRC

      • I am not certain if this is how they do it in Australia, but in the US, companies that could cause large incidents requiring outside resources are required to have reserved funds to pay off things quikcly in the event they have a disaster that requires outside assistance.

        The chemical plant I worked at would at times have issues that required quite a few Emergency Agencies to respond and be on site to help out Emergency responsers. The Municipalities would send the bill for their time and equipment and we w

    • How much money did it cost to find a pea sized capsule and who gets stuck with the bill? Haha

      I am guessing that it will be written off by the government as a training exercise using equipment that is widely deployed (but not well known by the public) commonly called RIIDs (Radioisotope Identification Devices) to detect certain radiological attacks (perhaps the most concerning is a device shipped via container ship).

      • Modern Radiation Detectors (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Roger W Moore ( 538166 ) on Wednesday February 01, 2023 @11:06PM (#63258895) Journal
        It should not really have cost that much. Something that radioactive would have lit up a modern detector like a Christmas tree and, provided you had one to hand all you would need to do it drive down the road until it went off which sounds like exactly what they did.

        • Re:Modern Radiation Detectors (Score:5, Insightful)

          by CommunityMember ( 6662188 ) on Wednesday February 01, 2023 @11:23PM (#63258921)

          It should not really have cost that much.

          Obviously you have never seen how much the government charges for (almost) anything if it was actually charged to an external entity. Simply deploying the trucks to drive the roads would likely have cost tens of thousands of dollars, and the paperwork for dealing with the tracking and re-location of the detectors would have been at least as much, and the time to transport the detectors (probably military aircraft) would have been many of thousands more, and the price to "pay" for the grunt to carry it is not cheap either. There is a reason that the Australian military budget is over $30B USD.

          • I did say _should_!

          • Remember, "not cost that much" is different for a big mining company than it is for an individual. There are things they'll pay millions for without blinking.

            $100k to find the thing would count as cheap, especially compared to having to pay an injury claim stemming from it, if it was left out for too long and somebody found and played with it.

            Let's estimate though:
            $100/hour for the truck and driver. 1k km distance. 50 km/hr speed(they have to drive slow). That's around $2k. Not actually that expensive

          • Then why didn't Rio Tinto use cheap private contractors to find it?

            When you figure out the answer to that you will realise why it was expensive.

            • Liability and regulatory reasons.

              Anyway the point is irrelevant. We're not talking about a mom-and-pop corner shop here. This wouldn't even show up on the balance sheet of Rio Tinto, a company well known for "We have an issue, pack your bags for a week and get to the Perth airport a charter plane is waiting for you" every time an operator passes wind the control room.

          • From my personal experience, this is not far from the truth.

            Just speaking from an IT perspective, they love to hire contractors or to outsource projects to vendors for which they pay way to much for both and select on average (not all the time, just most time) people/vendors who over promise and under deliver and basically can't do the work.

            This is made worst by the management not really knowing what they are managing or really 'caring'. They like to 'outsource' so if it goes bad, they blame the vendor, if

        • You wouldn't need a modern detector for that source. Any basic Geiger counter would pick it up cruising down the road at a reasonable speed.

          • Did you even read the summary?

            By January 27, search parties were in full force looking for the tiny capsule. But they were not scouting for it using their eyes - they were using portable radiation survey meters. The survey meters are designed to detect radioactivity within a 20m radius. Police focused their efforts on the GPS route the truck had taken, and on sites close to Perth's metropolitan and high-density areas. One site along the Great Northern Highway was prioritized by police on 28 January after unusual activity on a Geiger counter - a device used for measuring radioactivity - was reported by a member of public. But that search did not uncover the capsule.

            It seems the more sensitive equipment that was brought in was necessary to locate the capsule. If their normal radiation survey meters (with a range of 60 feet) did not detect the capsule, a hand-held Geiger counter (with a range of inches) would not be adequate.

          • Any basic Geiger counter would pick it up

            Actually, it would not. Geiger counters are only really efficient at detecting alpha particles since they need a lot of ionization. Cs-137 is a beta and gamma emitter.

    • Rio Tinto the mining company responsible will be paying the bill, as they should, heard their CEO say so on the radio this morning..

    • What did Geiger Guy find? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by flyingfsck ( 986395 ) on Thursday February 02, 2023 @05:01AM (#63259243)
      A guy with a Geiger counter reported an anomaly. Since an old counter is rather less sensitive than the modern kit, I would be more worried about what he found, than about ths little radio source!

    • How much money did it cost to find a pea sized capsule and who gets stuck with the bill?

      It cost probably less to retrieve the puny lil thing than we collectively wasted reading on it and replying instead of doing something actually useful. Like, Stuff That Mattersâ

    • My question is why you equate alerting the public and getting assistance to find a dangerous item with sitting around a campfire singing songs?

  • Me me oh pick me! (Score:3)

    by byronivs ( 1626319 ) on Wednesday February 01, 2023 @10:16PM (#63258809) Journal
    Google counter! C'mon! I never get picked.

  • This is just like a shitty 60s monster movie plot.

    Radioactive capsule falls off truck, lands in any nest. Giant ants!
    Eaten by lizard. Godzilla!
    Eaten by ape (don't ask). King Kong!
    Wind blown into the sea. SHARKNADO!!!!

    You'll know the truth when sharks start falling out of the sky. Don't believe this "we found it, yay!" story.

  • This had better involve a promise of cake, somehow.

  • Lies (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    This summary is Australia and the capsule isn't even in there anywhere.

  • The capsule was essentially giving off light in the gamma ray part of the spectrum. Seems like the easy way to find it is to use radiation detectors, which is what they did.

    You just needed the right eyes to see this thing with--given that, it was as simple as looking.

    --PM

    • True, Geordi would've had no problems finding this thing. I bet it would look like a beacon in the Australian outback.

  • and that element would be Cesium. (of the 137 flavor)

  • From TFA:

    [Chief Executive of Rio Tinto, Simon Trott] added that Rio Tinto would foot the bill for the search if the government requested it.

    The classy thing to do - in fact, the decent thing to do - would be to foot the bill even if the government didn't request it. Why should the taxpayer foot the bill for a private company's carelessness?

    What a disgusting cheapskate.

    • Re:Great story spoiled by corporate greed (Score:4, Informative)

      by hoofie ( 201045 ) <mickey&mouse,com> on Wednesday February 01, 2023 @11:49PM (#63258961)

      RIO TINTO DID NOT LOSE IT !

      The BBC Report is bullshit. It was an external contractor who lost it.

      Nowhere in ANY of the reporting was it confirmed that the source even belonged to Rio Tinto.

      The source has been used at the new Gaudi-Derri Iron ore mine and was being sent back to Perth.

      • Good piece of info, thanks!

        Still, no Rio Tinto mine, no lost radioactive stuff on the roadside. It's not outrageous to ask Rio Tinto to cover the mistakes its subcontractors make - and then Rio Tinto is free to send the bill to the subcontractor or sue them. It's too easy to externalize their responsibilities.

      • You keep saying that but provide no evidence for your claim that Rio dont own it. Why so vocal about what is a minor thing. Why would the CEO agree to pay if it wasnt theirs?

        • Why would the CEO agree to pay if it wasnt theirs?

          We have a Chain of Responsibility law in Australia. I think Rio is taking ultimate responsibility for this incident.

          Everyone who is involved with heavy vehicles are responsible for safety and can be held accountable.
          Below are the primary parties:

          1. Employ a heavy vehicle driver (employer)
          2. Engage someone to drive a heavy vehicle under a contract for services (prime contractor)
          3. Direct the control and use of a heavy vehicle (operator)
          4. Schedule the transport of goods and passengers in a heavy veh

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        Eh, they decided to outsource it and picked the contractor. No excuse, the buck stops with them.

        Similar thing came to light in the UK recently. One of our nuclear submarines had some problems with the reactor. Over tightened bolts with the heads sheared off. The contractors decided to glue the heads back on instead of replacing the bolts.

    • The classy thing to do - in fact, the decent thing to do - would be to foot the bill even if the government didn't request it. Why should the taxpayer foot the bill for a private company's carelessness?

      Next time your house burns down I hope you pay for the fire department yourself.

  • How did it get lost in the first place (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Rockets84 ( 2047424 ) on Thursday February 02, 2023 @01:56AM (#63259085)

    I work in mining in Western Australia so have been following this story closely. I also know someone who uses and has intimate knowledge of this type of equipment. They don't understand how the Caesium-137 radioactive capsule got lost in the first place. The equipment itself is very sturdy to cope with the day to day abuse on a mine site, it's storage box for when it's not in use is built like a tank, the storage box was supposedly in a crate and that crate was in a covered truck. It hasn't been reported that the truck rolled over which is the only way that I can think of logically that it might have been remotely possible for it to escape it's containment.

    • The capsule had lain quietly for many years; many thought it had perished. But when the Dark Lord began to take form again [foxnews.com], the capsule began to seek a return to its master. It first chose Rio Tinto; but when it saw that wouldn't get it to its goal, it left them. Now it is in the hands of Western Australian authorities. We shall see what comes next.

    • Re:How did it get lost in the first place (Score:5, Interesting)

      by cstacy ( 534252 ) on Thursday February 02, 2023 @02:24AM (#63259111)

      I work in mining in Western Australia so have been following this story closely. I also know someone who uses and has intimate knowledge of this type of equipment. They don't understand how the Caesium-137 radioactive capsule got lost in the first place. The equipment itself is very sturdy to cope with the day to day abuse on a mine site, it's storage box for when it's not in use is built like a tank, the storage box was supposedly in a crate and that crate was in a covered truck. It hasn't been reported that the truck rolled over which is the only way that I can think of logically that it might have been remotely possible for it to escape it's containment.

      I thought I read that the storage box, which was a little thing, was bolted to the body of the truck. It got shaken up, the bolt came off, and the capsule fell through the bolt hole onto the road. (The way the container was constructed and attached was non-conforming to the specified requirements. There should have been no bolt hole to fall through, for starters.) Shoddy (maybe illegal?) transport.

  • I am shocked....I tell you, SHOCKED! (Score:4, Funny)

    by cuda13579 ( 1060440 ) on Thursday February 02, 2023 @02:06AM (#63259091)

    They use radiation detectors to find it?! I NEVER would have guessed that they would have used something like that! I mean...who comes with these zany ideas?!
    Radiation detectors to find a radioactive capsule...GENIUS!

  • Side developments (Score:5, Funny)

    by Walt Dismal ( 534799 ) on Thursday February 02, 2023 @02:12AM (#63259099)
    In other news, a very large green muscular wallaby was sighted near Canberra on a rampage. It was growling 'Wallaby smash!" as it attacked cars. Authorities requested the help of Captain Kangaroo and Iron Dingo. The Fantastic Wombat and the Flaming Echidna also assisted.
  • After an 88-year-old man arrived to a French hospital in late December 2022 with a WWI artillery shell lodged in his anus, I think Australian authorities are just glad that no one found it, and shoved it in their anus.

    Human behavior dictates that anyone finding this thing would have gone, "what the hell is this?" then had to fight off a great urge to then shove it in their rectum. This compulsion has been discovered by way of empirical evidence, and shown to be greatest within the French male population.
  • I read this story and for some reason, I picture the opening of the Simpsons where Homer finds the Vial of Radio Active Waste in his shirt and tosses it out of the car window.

  • The reporting on this seems determined not to tell people how such payloads are packaged and transported. Surely a dangerous item as small as a "pea" is held in something much larger, which is clearly labelled and made highly visible. Right? Also, how did it wind up in the wild?

    • I seem to remember an old 5-Minute Crafts video that featured a DIY radioactive capsule transport/containment system. IIRC it featured a 1976 El-Camino, a beat-up tin coffee can, and a generous amount of hot-glue. (...possibly a command strip or two)

      Sorry, I can't find the link right now.

  • If television and comics have taught me anything, it's that the main effect of radiation is to cause everyday fauna, and sometimes flora, to mutate into malformed, deadly, ill-tempered abominations that want to kill all humans. Just look for those, and you find the source of the radiation. Easy-peasy.

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