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What happened?

In Western Australia, authorities are still frantically searching for a radioactive capsule that was lost in transit from a mining site. The capsule, which is only six by eight millimeters in size, is said to lie somewhere on a trajectory of 1400 kilometers between a mine north of the mining town of Newman and Malaga, a suburb of the metropolis of Perth. As if things weren’t complicated enough, there’s no idea where or how exactly the capsule got lost.

Why is the capsule so dangerous?

Don’t be fooled by the harmless size of the capsule: Andrew Robertson has issued an urgent health alert. Anyone who discovers something that looks like a tiny capsule must keep a distance of at least five meters. (He didn’t say how he could see the capsule at that distance.)

The capsule emits “a fair amount of radiation,” Robertson said. Within a radius of one meter, this is about as high as ten X-rays in an hour – or the amount of natural radiation a human being is exposed to during an entire year. “It emits both beta and gamma rays. Getting close to her can cause skin damage, including burns,” Robertson said.

But it would be even worse if the capsule were broken open. An example of such a scenario occurred in Brazil in 1987, when two scrap dealers stole the irradiation head of an irradiation machine from an empty hospital in the city of Goiânia. One of them opened the container with the cesium chloride (cesium-137) powder. Fascinated by the glowing blue powder, he gave it away to those around him and it quickly spread. In the end, 249 people became infected and four people died a short time later. According to a report by “dw” in 2017, 500 people still suffered from the late effects.

What is the capsule used for?

Radioactive capsules are often used in mining. In the Newman region, where the transportation began, mainly iron ore is mined. There, the capsule was part of a radiation meter that is widely used to measure radioactivity in oil and gas processing plants, broadcaster ABC reports.

This requires the cesium-137, a radioactive isotope, present in the capsule. While this is dangerous, it can also be useful outside of mining. For example, it is used in some cancer treatments or can be used to measure the thickness of metal.

How could that happen?

The truck carrying the capsule left the Gudai-Darri mine near Newman on Jan. 12 and reached its final destination, Perth, on Jan. 16. However, the missing capsule was not discovered until nine days later after the safety case was opened.

In fact, the transport of radioactive sources is a daily activity. The Australian Nuclear Science & Technology Organization (ANSTO) transports about 2,000 packages of nuclear medicine products around the country each month. There are also other transports by private companies.

The regulations for such transports are extremely strict. These are monitored nationally by the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA). In addition, each state and territory has its own regulatory body.

According to the CNS Global Incidents and Trafficking Database, about 150 radioactive sources are lost each year around the world – which is a relatively small number in relation to the large number of shipments.

How to search for the capsule?

The fire service, Western Australia Police, Department of Health and professionals are involved in the search. Car owners traveling on the Great Northern Highway were asked to check their tyres, ABC said. Because: It’s quite possible that the capsule got stuck there and had already reached other parts of the country.

Meanwhile, the search progressed slowly. Rescue services initially complained about the lack of equipment that would be needed for the search. Commonwealth states and other countries were therefore asked to provide suitable equipment for the search. On Sunday, Western Australia’s Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) said it was procuring new radiation detection equipment. These can be installed in the vehicles to use the radiation to locate the capsule over the 1,400-kilometer route.

How does the responsible mining company react?

British-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto has apologized for the incident. “We are taking this incident very seriously,” Australian broadcaster ABC quoted Simon Trott, head of Rio Tinto’s iron ore division, as saying Monday. The company operates the Gudai Darri mine, from which the capsule was transported. “We recognize that this is clearly a matter of great concern and apologize for the alarm it has caused among the people of Western Australia.”

Rio Tinto hired a third party with the expertise and certification to securely package the dangerous capsule in preparation for shipment. The company also launched its own investigation to find out how she could have disappeared.

It is entirely possible that the capsule will never appear again, David Gill, chairman of the DFES, admitted on Saturday. And then? Cesium has a half-life of about 30 years. This means that the radiation will halve every 30 years until it eventually disappears almost completely. This in turn means that the capsule poses a risk for the next century if not found.

(saw with material from the sda ​​and dpa news agencies)