Skin burns and cancer formation. This is what could cause, in less than an hour, a tool such as the one that was lost in the wild by an Australian mining drilling company. Ultra-powerful, this technology could thus severely degrade the state of health of people in the vicinity.
1,400 kilometers long. This is the size of the highway on which the team of Australian miners would have lost radioactive capsule of their tool. If many teams are currently mobilized to get their hands on the latter, alert messages were relayed by the authorities to prevent risks related to the lost object. Especially since the tool could very well have lodged on the wheels of one of the vehicles present on the same road, at the time of the loss.
Containing cesium-137, the capsule in question emits a very large amount of beta and gamma rays. The latter could cause, in the event of high exposure, severe burns as well as some forms of cancerous lesions.
To read : Flying in an airplane exposes you to more radiation than working on a nuclear reactor
Mea Culpa and radioactive capsule hunt on the highway
The authorities have thus recently launched vast research operations concerning the radioactive capsule. Lost almost ago 20 days (on January 10), professionals in the medical sector are now worried about the fallout in terms of public health that could result from the loss of such material. If, according to the competent authorities, this object cannot in any way be transformed into armedthe potential damage it is capable of causing worries Australian political and institutional leaders.
To read : NASA wants to install a nuclear power plant on the Moon
The mining company Rio Tinto Iron Ore, which has already intensified other research operations, recently publicly apologized for the consequences of this tragic incident. So far without any concrete consequences, this event could well put the question of nuclear power and its civil use in our societies back at the center of the debate.
Source : businessinsider.com
