Wednesday, February 1, 2023 | 8:15 a.m.
The Australian authorities have confirmed this Wednesday the discovery of a radioactive capsule that disappeared in January when it was transported in the west of the country, which led to the declaration of a health alert within a radius of hundreds of kilometers.
Western Australia’s Minister for Emergency Services, Stephen Dawson, has indicated that the cesium-137 capsule has been found 50 kilometers from the town of Newman and has stressed that “search teams have found the needle in the haystack”. .
“I want to emphasize that it is an extraordinary result,” he said, as reported by the Australian television channel ABC. The capsule has been located by a team from the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization and the Fire and Emergency Department.
Australia issued the alert after the capsule disappeared between January 11 and 16 after falling from the truck that was transporting it from a Rio Tinto mine to the city of Perth. The loss was reported about a week later, on January 25.
The capsule, six millimeters in diameter and eight millimeters high, is used in mining equipment and can generate high doses of radiation if it is handled incorrectly, for which the authorities demanded that no one touch it and that, if possible, They kept at least five meters apart.
The Australian Nuclear Safety Agency (ASPANSA) said Tuesday that it had joined the search for the small radioactive capsule lost by the Rio Tinto miner in the vast state of Western Australia.
ARPANSA, the Australian Government’s main authority on radiation protection and nuclear safety, indicated that its support for the operation was part of “the national emergency response and radiation protection capacity” and is intended to “protect the community from the effects harmful from radiation.
The Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) was leading the operation.-
Western Australia emergency teams today issued a new alert for motorists traveling in the area where the radioactive object is believed to have been lost and come across the search party.
The authorities had warned, in an alert, about the risks of exposure to this toxic substance, which include “radiation burns or radiation sickness”, such as cancer.
“The risk to the community at large is relatively low, however it is important to be aware of the risks and know what to do if you see the capsule,” the alert stated.
The toxic material was packaged on January 10 and the vehicle arrived in Perth six days later, but it was not until the 25th that cargo inspectors realized that one of the packages was torn and one of those tiny letters capsules had been lost on the way.
