A radioactive capsule that fell off a truck in the Australian outback - sparking a radiation alert and a search of hundreds of miles of road - has been found.

Western Australia's emergency services minister confirmed the silver capsule, which emits Caesium-137, had been located.

 

Authorities have been involved in a needle-in-a-haystack hunt for the 6mm by 8mm capsule and were slowly retracing the truck's 870-mile route with radiation-scanning equipment.

A bit of good news at last.

Were did they find it?

28 minutes ago, Tug said:

Were did they find it?

in a dingo's stomach ...

1 hour ago, Tug said:

Were did they find it?

https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/01/australia/australia-radioactive-capsule-found-intl-hnk/index.html

 

Search teams found the missing capsule not far from the Rio Tinto mine, suggesting it fell off the truck soon after departure.

 

2 hours ago, Tug said:

Were did they find it?

Apparently the last place they looked.

2 hours ago, kwonitoy said:

https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/01/australia/australia-radioactive-capsule-found-intl-hnk/index.html

 

Search teams found the missing capsule not far from the Rio Tinto mine, suggesting it fell off the truck soon after departure.

 

It was 2 metres from the road just south of Newman about 120 kms from the mine.

 

I don't understand how this happened. 

 

Why would there be a tiny radio active capsule unsecured on the back of a huge truck in the first place?

 

 

Surely it would have been incase in big container?   

 

Where were they taking it and why?  

 

 

17 hours ago, Black Ops said:

A radioactive capsule that fell off a truck

Fell off a truck..., used to be VCRs, TVs and stereo equipment that fall off a truck. Times are changing.

11 hours ago, Tug said:

Were did they find it?

In a kangaroo's pouch.

7 hours ago, jak2002003 said:

I don't understand how this happened. 

 

Why would there be a tiny radio active capsule unsecured on the back of a huge truck in the first place?

 

 

Surely it would have been incase in big container?   

 

Where were they taking it and why?  

 

 

   we'll never understand    !

That's good news.

 

Although having been through the Australian Outback, I'm not sure there would be much discernible difference had the capsule exploded. ????

Either someone is telling porkies or the transportation company were incredibly incompetent.

 

While I have no proof, I suspect someone took it, got scared at the reaction and dropped it where it would be found.

8 hours ago, jak2002003 said:

I don't understand how this happened. 

 

Why would there be a tiny radio active capsule unsecured on the back of a huge truck in the first place?

 

 

Surely it would have been incase in big container?   

 

Where were they taking it and why?  

 

 

My thoughts entirely.  How was something as small as the end of my little finger secured to the back of a lorry in the first instance ?  Clearly it wasn't !

 

Curiouser and curiouser . . .

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Either someone is telling porkies or the transportation company were incredibly incompetent.

 

While I have no proof, I suspect someone took it, got scared at the reaction and dropped it where it would be found.

If your hypothesis is the case, then all the authorities need to do is wait and see if someone shows up at a hospital with radiation burns or poisoning!   

https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/radiation/emergencies/isotopes/cesium.htm#:~:text=External exposure to large amounts of Cs-137 can,cancer because of exposure to high-energy gamma radiation.

3 hours ago, klauskunkel said:

In a kangaroo's pouch.

skippy found it .....

Shoulda tied it down sport

 

(sorry that only applies to kangaroos)

16 hours ago, Tug said:

Were did they find it?

outback 

On 2/2/2023 at 3:47 PM, radiochaser said:

If your hypothesis is the case, then all the authorities need to do is wait and see if someone shows up at a hospital with radiation burns or poisoning!   

https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/radiation/emergencies/isotopes/cesium.htm#:~:text=External exposure to large amounts of Cs-137 can,cancer because of exposure to high-energy gamma radiation.

Not if they knew how to handle it safely. However, if some idiot did so on the spur of the moment, perhaps.

 

I'm going to be really interested to know how it supposedly fell off a truck, given the regulations for radioactive devices. The devices I am familiar with were much less radioactive than the ones in the OP and had to be stored in a sizable lead container.

I can see the item falling off a truck due to incompetence, but surely it had to be in a lead container, so why was it not in one?

 

BTW, if it was stored in a lead container it would not have been found by the radiation.