Australian emergency services are racing against time to find a tiny but potentially deadly radioactive capsule that went missing while being transported 870 miles (1,400 km) from a mine to a warehouse in the city of Perth.
The 8mm by 6mm unit, smaller than a penny, is believed to have fallen off the back of a truck on a 35 km (22 mi) stretch of road in Western Australia while being transported from the Rio Tinto mine. in Newman to the Perth suburb of Malaga.
The unit was lost after a screw came loose inside a large lead-lined manometer and fell through a hole. The small silver cylinder contains cesium-137, a highly radioactive isotope that experts say cannot be used as a weapon.
The unit emits the equivalent of 10 X-rays an hour and members of the public must stay at least 16 feet apart, state officials said. Contact could cause skin damage, burns and radiation sickness, including effects on the immune system. Long-term exposure could also cause cancer.
The Department of Fire and Emergency Services has deployed teams with portable radiation detection devices and metal detectors to try to find it, but state authorities have been hampered by a lack of equipment and have called for outside assistance.
Search teams are concentrating their efforts on populated areas north of Perth and sites along the Great Northern Highway.
Superintendent Darryl Ray said: “What we’re not doing is trying to find a small device with the naked eye.
“We are using the radiation detectors to locate the gamma rays,” he said.
An investigation will look into meter and capsule handling at the mine site.
Authorities are using the truck’s GPS data to determine the exact route the driver took and where he stopped during his trip. They are concerned that the capsule has become lodged in the tire of another vehicle and is hundreds of miles from the search area.
Rio Tinto had hired an expert radioactive material handler to pack the capsule for “safe” transport to the depot, and was not reported missing until January 25.
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The Western Australian government waited two days to inform the public on Friday. Its health director, Andrew Robertson, defended the delay, saying the mine and deposit needed to be searched and excluded, and the route confirmed.
“We think that the vibration from the truck may have affected the integrity of the indicator, that it fell apart and the source actually came out of it,” he said. “It’s unusual for an indicator to fall apart like this.”
“Our concern is that someone will pick it up, not knowing what it is, think it’s something interesting (and) keep it.”
Police determined the incident was an accident and criminal charges are not likely, as they ruled out a robbery at the warehouse.
