After a large-scale search along a 1400-kilometer route in Australia, the tiny radioactive capsule that had gone missing has been found. This is reported by the Minister of Emergency Services. The search for the capsule, which is as small as a pea and contains a dangerous substance, has been going on for more than a week.
The capsule had fallen off a secure truck last month. The tube was eventually found about 50 kilometers from the town of Newman. The Australian authorities and the nuclear watchdog Arpansa recently searched along a stretch of road of 1400 kilometers between Perth and Newman.
The minister calls the find an ‘extraordinary result’ of the search. “The search teams have quite literally found a needle in a haystack.”
Radioactive
The 6 by 8 millimeter tube contains the substance caesium-137. That is a radioactive substance that does not occur naturally on earth; the unstable substance is created by nuclear fission of heavier elements, such as uranium and plutonium. Caesium-137 was also released during the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. The capsule is used in radiation meters in mining.
Anyone who is briefly exposed to this radioactive substance risks skin damage, burns or radiation sickness. Longer exposure can result in cancer or even death. The search teams used instruments that measure radiation to find the capsule.
It is possible that the tiny object disappeared from the packaging due to a vibrated loose screw, after which it fell off the truck. British-Australian mining company Rio Tinto has apologized for losing the capsule.
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