After a “relentless search”, the team looking for a radioactive capsule lost in Western Australia around two weeks ago is learnt to have found it. The 8mm by 6mm capsule that had triggered a radiation alert and posed a "significant public health risk" was part of a secure device on a truck travelling from a mine site to Perth and believed to have fallen from it during transportation somewhere along the Great Northern Highway, the longest one in Australia. It was spotted by the side of the road south of the town of Newman, The Guardian reported.
The spot where the capsule was found is just a short distance from the Rio Tinto mine site in Western Australia’s Pilbara region from where it had undertaken its 1,400-km journey to Perth, according to the report.
The Australian Defence Force is now verifying the device, which is radioactive. To shield people from radiation, it is stored in a secure location in Newman before being transported to Perth in a lead container, the report said, adding that a 20-metre exclusion zone has been established where the device was found and authorities will survey the area for contamination.
Quoting Western Australia’s chief health officer Andrew Robertson, the report said an investigation had been launched to find out how the device was lost. He also said there would be action if negligence was proved.
“I have responsibility as the chair of the radiological council to actually investigate and if required, prosecute offences under the act,” Robertson was quoted as saying.
He said the radiation health branch of the health department was conducting the investigation.
Robertson also said the device does not appear to have moved since it fell off the truck.
There have been no reports of any injuries or exposure to radiation. The official said the place where the device fell was “remote enough” to cause harm to anyone.
According to the Guardian report, health authorities had earlier warned that standing within one metre of the device would be equivalent to “receiving 10 X-rays in an hour”. People had also been warned that they should not touch or approach it, if found.
How The Tiny 8mm By 6mm Capsule Was Found
The Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency had joined the week-long hunt for the missing radioactive capsule. It was finally found using a “specialist radiation detection technology”.
According to the report, the staff sitting inside a car travelling 70 kms per hour first detected the device while speeding past the capsule. They later used a handheld radiation device to spot its exact location.
Praising everyone who was part of the “relentless search”, emergency services minister Stephen Dawson said locating the device was a “monumental challenge”. “The search groups have quite literally found the needle in the haystack,” he was quoted as saying.
According to reports, the capsule packaged on January 10 was transported to Perth in a truck on January 12, but it was not until January 25, when the package was opened for inspection, that it was found to be missing. The casing containing the device had arrived in Perth on January 16.
It is suspected that a bolt that secured the gauge containing the capsule became loose somewhere on the route because of the vibrations of the truck, and the capsule fell through a gap.
Speaking about the success of the search operation, the Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES), which was part of it, said on Facebook: “This fantastic result in just 7 days in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds is testament to the close collaboration of all the agencies who came together to ensure the safety of WA.”