Parts of Western Australia were yesterday under a radiation alert after authorities said a radioactive capsule used in mining was lost en-route to the state’s capital, Perth.
Authorities in Australia’s largest state issued the alert on Friday for a “radioactive substance risk” in several regions, including Perth.
The small, silver capsule containing Caesium-137 was lost during transport from north of Newman — a small town in the remote Kimberley region — to the northeast suburbs of Perth, the Australian Department of Fire and Emergency Services said.
“The substance is used within gauges in mining operations. Exposure to this substance could cause radiation burns or radiation sickness,” the agency said.
The capsule went missing while being driven in a truck from a mine to a Perth storage facility, the state’s health agency said.
Newman is about 1,200km northeast of Perth.
The truck left the site on Jan. 12, but the capsule was not discovered missing until this week, which was when emergency services were alerted, authorities said.
The capsule was reportedly from a Rio Tinto mine.
Western Australia Chief Health Officer Andrew Robertson urged anyone who found the capsule not to handle it, as it could cause skin irritation and radiation burns.
“If it was kept long enough and they were exposed for long enough they could have some more acute effects, including impacts on their immune system and the gastrointestinal system,” he told reporters.
He said the capsule was “most dangerous if it is handled or if it is close to the body.”
“If you are further than 5m away from the source, certainly if you are more than 20m away from the source, it will pose no danger to you,” he said. “If it is closer than that, and we strongly discourage people from picking it up, certainly don’t put it in your pocket or put it in your car, don’t put it on your sideboard, it will continue to radiate.”
Robertson said the vibration of the truck might have caused the protective gauge to fall apart and the item to come out of it, he said.
“These gauges are designed to be robust and to be used in industrial settings where they may be exposed to weather and vibration, so it is unusual for a gauge to come apart like this one has,” he said.
“We are conducting an investigation on all of the circumstances from when it was originally transported from the mine site, the whole of the transport route, and then its handling on arrival in Perth,” he said.
Department of Fire and Emergency Services Acting Superintendent and Incident Controller Darryl Ray said authorities were largely searching for the capsule at “strategic sites along the route that the vehicle had taken, concentrating on sites close to high-population areas within the metropolitan suburbs.”
“The search involves the use of radiation survey meters to detect the radiation levels, which will help us locate the small device,” he said.
“What we are not doing is trying to find a tiny little device by eyesight. We are using the radiation detectors to locate the gamma rays, using the meters that will help us then locate the small device,” he said.
Additional reporting by The Guardian
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