- Imagine opening your truck and realizing your radioactive cargo isn’t there anymore.
Ever left home to take something somewhere but when you arrive at your destination, you just can’t find the darn thing? You could swear you packed it in your car but it’s just nowhere to be found.
Well, Australia is now dealing with that — only on a much, much more serious scale.
As if their problems with thousands of rotting fish weren’t enough, Australia is now dealing with a potential radiation hazard. Authorities have lost a minuscule but highly radioactive pebble.
The tiny capsule disappeared during transport somewhere along a nearly 900-mile truck journey. No one knows where it is, and that’s a bit of a problem.
Although the capsule is very, very small, it emits high levels of radiation. Just being near it is equivalent to getting blasted with more than a dozen doses of X-rays.
Authorities have launched a frantic, extensive search for the missing capsule. But considering the vast area where it could be and its tiny size, looking for it is literally like trying to find a specific pebble in a desert.
Man, Australia just can’t catch a break, can they?
It Fell Off a Truck
The radioactive capsule disappeared at some point between January 11 and 16. At the time, a truck was transporting it from the Pilbara mine in Western Australia to Perth.
As mentioned, the capsule is very small. Measuring only 6 millimeters by 8 millimeters, it’s smaller than a nickel.
Made of radioactive cesium-137, the capsule is part of a radiation measurement gauge. These devices are common in mining and oil refining, where experts use them to measure radiation emitted from underground sources.
Having served its purpose at the Pilbara mine, the capsule was on its way back to Perth for storage. But when it got to Perth, it simply wasn’t in the truck anymore.
How the radiating pebble got lost is anybody’s guess. According to the current theory, its disappearance is due to a very unlikely chain of events.
Although it was supposedly packed safely, Australian media reports that its container in the truck collapsed due to a bumpy ride. As a result, the capsule rolled out onto the floor of the truck.
There, it managed to find a small hole left behind by a bolt that somehow fell off. However, the hole was just large enough for the capsule to fit through — and fall onto the road.
Now, it’s somewhere along the 870-mile route between the mine and Perth. Good luck finding it.
Constant X-Ray Exposure
However, Australian authorities are very keen to find the capsule. Despite its small size, it’s extremely dangerous.
The good news is that the capsule can’t be “weaponized.” The bad news is that it’s still a serious health risk.
“If you were to stand [three feet away] you would be receiving about the equivalent of 17 chest X-rays,” said Lauren Steen, general manager of Radiation Services WA.
Spending an hour at that distance would blast you with as much radiation as you usually get within a year.
Should you get closer, the risks only increase. Cesium-137 emits both beta and gamma radiation, so picking the thing up could cause radiation burns.
Hang around long enough, and you could come down with acute radiation poisoning. And that’s lethal.
Of course, if you know what the thing is, you wouldn’t go near it. The problem is that it looks like a small, unassuming piece of metal.
What if somebody picked it up and popped it into their pocket? What’s worse, what if they took it home and left it in a drawer or something?
Due to the danger, Australian authorities have asked anyone driving along the route the pebble traveled to check their tires. If they notice a strange piece of metal stuck to them, they’re urged to contact emergency services immediately.
‘Regulatory Failure’
Unfortunately, there’s a good chance that nobody will ever find the capsule. If it got buried in sand and debris, it could remain lost for years.
To no one’s surprise, the incident has sparked a discussion about the security measures taken to transport the capsule. According to experts, things simply weren’t done right.
“It’s a regulatory failure,” Nigel Marks, Curtin University associate professor and radioactive materials expert, stated bluntly. “They thought they had enough levels of containment, but obviously they didn’t.”
“At the moment, I don’t think anybody can quite believe that something that’s highly radioactive has fallen off the back of a truck. Clearly, if you can have a few screws come undone and then a bolt missing, and then your source escapes, that just isn’t enough protection,” he said.
Local communities are understandably nervous, fearing that the capsule could find its way somewhere people frequent. Sadly, there’s not much authorities can do to calm their fears.
All they can do is hope that they find the capsule — and fast.
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